Contact: Kara Keeton, Communications Director
Governor's Office of Agricultural Policy 
(502) 564-4627
http://agpolicy.ky.gov/phase_ii

Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher announced the distribution of payment checks compensating tobacco growers and quota owners in Kentucky as a result of the national legal settlements with tobacco companies. Compensation checks totaling over $127 million from the settlement were distributed to 159,000 Kentucky tobacco growers and quota owners.

The compensation comes from the 1999 Phase II settlement between tobacco-growing states and the four largest cigarette manufacturers to offset income losses farmers are expected to experience as a result of changes within the tobacco industry. This distribution represents the fifth of the scheduled twelve annual payments from the Trust. The agreement provides Kentucky farmers $1.5 billion for annual payments through the year 2010. To date, the Kentucky Tobacco Settlement Trust Corporation has facilitated payments of more than $462 million since the establishment of the Trust in 1999.

Image 1: Governor Fletcher addresses Franklin County Farmers

Image 2: Presentation of the Check