TRENTON, NJ– November 29, 2016 – Governor Chris Christie has announced a $300 million redesign effort for the New Jersey Statehouse. American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Vice President of Government Relations Bill Sherman released the following statement.
“We are disturbed that Governor Christie is letting New Jerseyans who are struggling with tobacco addiction and cancer know they are not his priority.
“His announcement to spend over $300 million on an ‘Extreme Makeover’ of the Statehouse rather than allocate any funds to the state’s tobacco control program, shows where his priorities are. For the past five years, Governor Christie has not allocated one state penny to support the state tobacco control program that helps people quit and educates others so they may never start smoking. Some 70 percent of those addicted to cigarettes say they want to quit. Putting up new drapes in the Statehouse will not help New Jerseyans struggling with tobacco addiction.
“The governor has told us there is no money for the tobacco control program and not enough money for proper funding of cancer research when he vetoed $1 million in funding for cancer research. He tells us this as an estimated 50,000 New Jerseyans will have been diagnosed with cancer in 2016.
“Governor Christie and the State Senate have an opportunity to show all of New Jersey they support evidence-based measures to help those addicted to tobacco to quit by enacting S-862 which dedicates one percent of cigarette tax revenue to the state’s tobacco control program. The State Assembly unanimously passed the bill on November 21.
“What New Jersey really needs is an ‘Extreme Makeover,’ of the state’s cancer control programs.”