The board of the Central District Health Department, the public health district that serves the Boise area, has voted to endorse the “College, Not Cancer Act,” the ballot initiative that’s currently circulating to raise Idaho’s cigarette tax and lower state college and university tuition.

Steven Scanlin, board chairman, called the measure “a unique approach to improve public health in Idaho,” and noted that Idaho has one of the lowest cigarette tax rate in the U.S. and the lowest in the West, at 57 cents per pack. You can see the board’s endorsement letter here; there’s more info on the ballot measure online here. It would raise Idaho's cigarette tax by $1.50 a pack, and lower public university tuition by 22 percent.