Under the Amended Sub. S.B. 192, 123rd General Assembly...

"In November 1998 the Ohio Attorney General, along with the attorneys general of 45 other states, five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, entered into an agreement with the major American tobacco manufacturers to settle state lawsuits against the industry.  Under the agreement, Ohio could receive almost $10.1 billion in payments from the industry during the years from 2000 through 2025.  The act does not address payments that may be made by the manufacturers to the state after 2025.

The act provides that all payments made to the state under the agreement are to be deposited into the state treasury to the credit of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement Fund."

The Southern Ohio Agricultural and Community Development Foundation is one of six funds that the act was created for.

"The charge of the Foundation is to endeavor to replace the production of tobacco in southern Ohio with the production of other agricultural products and to mitigate the adverse economic impact of reduced tobacco production in the region by preparing, implementing, and keeping current a plan to develop means for tobacco growers to grow other agricultural products voluntarily.  The plan may include:

1. Increasing the variety, quantity, and value of agricultural products other than tobacco that are produced in those parts of Ohio in which tobacco has traditionally been grown:
2. Preserving agricultural land and soils in those same parts of Ohio:
3. Making strategic investments in communities that will be affected by the reduction in the demand for tobacco:
4. Providing education and training assistance to tobacco growers to help them make the transition out of tobacco production.

The Foundation is to make grants or loans to individuals, public agencies, or privately owned companies to carry out the plan and to adopt rules under the Administrative Procedure Act regarding conflicts of interest in the making of grants or loans.  The Foundation is prohibited from using money from the Southern Ohio Agricultural and Community Development Foundation Fund for the direct production costs of growing tobacco."