House Bill 2783 easily passed the legislature last year despite criticism from anti-tobacco nonprofits and medical advocacy groups that warned it would undermine what voters already decided 25 years before.
The law altered rules of the board of directors for Oklahoma's Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, which was established following the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement when tobacco companies were forced to hand over $200 billion over the next 25 years as restitution for marketing their products to children.
WATCH: TSET law unconstitutional, OK Supreme Court rules
The system for Oklahoma TSET was enshrined into the state constitution by a state question in 2000. This meant that TSET's board of directors would be independent from state legislators and that lawmakers couldn't influence where the money went.
HB2783 changed that to make the board of directors serve seven-year terms and beholden to their appointing authorities, meaning they could be removed at any time.
- Previous coverage>>> House passes last-minute bill in power-grabbing effort over TSET money
"I mean, it's pretty straightforward," Tulsa Rep. Melissa Provenzano told 2 News Jan. 16. "Any change to our constitution requires a vote of the people, and the bill that was run did not embed a vote of the people."
Provenzano denounced the legality of the bill to her House colleagues in May 2025 before it passed with a 60-30 majority.
Months after TSET sued the state, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Jan. 13 the law is unconstitutional. Only Justice Travis Jett dissented.
"The issue is who has control of the money," Dr. Steven Crawford said.
Crawford is legislative co-chair and a past president of the Oklahoma Academy of Family Physicians, and helped craft the state question that voters approved in 2000.
"Now, last legislative session, it probably was for I would say a noble thing that they were arguing about: the pediatric heart hospital," Dr. Crawford added. "But it could also be for roads to prisons. The voters said back then, 'We want the board to be as independent as possible' when they set it up back 26 years ago, and (the state supreme court) essentially affirmed that decision today."
As for any future legal action needed from TSET, Rep. Provenzano has one idea.
"When I was a principal in schools, cigarettes were sort of becoming more of a thing of the past, and vapes were the new hot thing," The Tulsa democrat said. "So I think that is the road ahead."
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