Orange County Pediatric Health Programs Will Receive $28 Million from Proposition 10 Tobacco Tax Funds
Pediatric health programs in Orange County will receive more than $28 million from revenue generated from Proposition 10, the 1998 ballot measure that levied a 50-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes, to improve prenatal care and health care for children ages five and younger, the Los Angeles Times reports. The initiative will be jointly administered by the University of California-Irvine Medical Center and the Children's Hospital of Orange County. The program will allocate $3 million for the expansion of UCI's autism clinic, $3.7 million for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment, $2.8 million for an asthma and chronic lung disease center, $8.7 million for the expansion of the hospital's pediatric clinics and almost $2 million to develop a program to diagnose and treat metabolic disorders that may cause disabilities. Since February 2000, the Orange County Children and Families Commission, which distributes revenue from the tax, has given approximately $67 million to programs aiding families and children in the county. The funds given to the UCI-CHOC pediatric care project are part of $81 million that will be allocated over the next decade (Anton, Los Angeles Times, 9/30).
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