Amendment to require anti-smoking spending progressing

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Backers of an initiative aimed at guaranteeing that money from the state's tobacco settlement is spent on an anti-smoking program on Wednesday said they've passed a key milestone in gathering signatures, bringing them closer to getting on next year's ballot.

Floridians for Youth Tobacco Education are collecting signatures to put an amendment on the 2006 ballot that would require that 15 percent of tobacco settlement payments to Florida go to pay for a statewide tobacco education and prevention program. It would include advertising aimed at convincing kids that smoking isn't cool.

In all, the group must collect more than 600,000 valid signatures to get the question on the ballot.

The group said Wednesday that it has gathered more than 250,000 signatures so far.

By turning those signatures in to state officials, the group has more than enough to trigger a review by the state Supreme Court of the wording of the proposed ballot question.

The court reviews the ballot proposal to make sure it is clearly worded and not misleading, and that it deals only with one subject.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All right reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

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