Fire Sale

But constitutional amendments can't be altered by the legislature, unlike statutes, and Mike Melanson, campaign manager for the initiative, says his group wants to make sure legislators can't divert the new revenue from health care. "We want the dollars to be spent as the people intend," he says.

O'Brien, however, says that if state revenues plunge, the amendment would allow the legislature to declare a fiscal emergency and use the tobacco tax revenues for any cost related to health care. And, she adds, this proposal is far different from Amendment 23, which locks in funding for K-12 education and has been criticized -- along with the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) amendment -- for helping push the state into a fiscal meltdown.

"This is a brand-new revenue stream that doesn't take anything out of any other program," she says.

So far, the tobacco industry has been keeping a very low profile in the discussion, sending no one to testify before the state legislature about the proposed tax increase and not directly attacking the constitutional amendment. This fits a pattern seen in other states, says Melanson. Since tobacco companies are widely unpopular, they often use retail trade groups to marshal opposition to tax increases. However, around the country, the industry has recently backed off its opposition to tax hikes, even though New York reported that cigarette sales dropped by nearly half after Mayor Michael Bloomberg raised the cigarette tax and banned smoking in bars.

"They don't seem to be as out front in fighting this," Melanson says. "Their public relations are at an all-time low."