Dear Friends,

I recently traveled to Burley and had the opportunity to meet with Simply Hope Family Outreach and tour their new facility under construction.  Simply Hope Family Outreach started in Burley in 2015 after a local family nearly lost their son to an overdose. The founders of Simply Hope decided that other families should not have to face that kind of crisis alone, and they built an organization to make sure of it. Today, Simply Hope runs Idaho’s first Safe Teen Assessment Center, where young people and their families can get early intervention, case management, counseling referrals, and support that continues after the first visit.

About $2 million of this new building project comes from the Idaho Millennium Fund.  That money traces back to 1998, when Idaho and other states reached the Master Settlement Agreement with the major tobacco manufacturers. The agreement requires those companies to pay the states every year, and the Consumer Protection Division in my office enforces it on Idaho’s behalf. The agreement was reached long before I took office, and the enforcement work continues because the payments continue.

When those payments arrive, it is governed by a principle written into the Idaho Constitution. Article VII, Section 13 provides that no money may be drawn from the treasury except under appropriations made by law, which means the people’s elected legislators decide how public money is spent. In 2000 the Legislature created the Millennium Fund to hold every dollar Idaho receives under the tobacco agreement. Each year, a portion of the fund becomes available, a committee of five senators and five representatives reviews grant applications and makes recommendations, and the Legislature votes on the appropriation. Legislators have directed that money toward behavioral health and substance abuse prevention for young people in Idaho.

The success of this arrangement depends on groups like Simply Hope in Burley.  Simply Hope was started by people who had lived the problem in their own home and who knew what a family in that situation needs. Parents are the first line of defense for their children, and Simply Hope exists so that a parent in crisis has somewhere to turn before a problem gets worse. The state’s role was to assist a community organization in their goal to reach more local families.

For families in the Magic Valley, the result is very practical. A struggling teenager can be connected to help early, and parents can find case management and counseling referrals close to home.

At the Simply Hope Teen Carnival later that evening, I watched children and parents enjoying time together, and I thought about how far those dollars had traveled to get there.  A payment required by a settlement reached nearly three decades ago had passed through the state treasury and a vote of the Legislature before it became part of a building in Burley where a family in need can find resources and solutions.

My office has won over $300 million dollars in various consumer settlements since I took office, but getting to see some of those dollars in action within a community is a great end to the story.    My office will keep enforcing that agreement so the Legislature has those funds to direct, and I am grateful to both the lawmakers and the Burley families who put them to such good use.

Best regards,