This bill creates a uniform prospective remedy for recovery of economic loss caused by tobacco exposure. Related costs and legal fees are also recoverable. The liabilities created by the law apply only to manufacturers and not to other members of the tobacco industry.

Manufacturers are prospectively held to a strict liability standard and are deprived of the contributory negligence defense; but victims may not recover noneconomic damages. This is parallel to the trade-off created by workers' compensation laws. The bill is, in essence, a "tobacco compensation" statute.

Group losses asserted by the State, insurers or health care providers are provable on the basis of market share liability with the aid of certain presumptions that the manufacturers are permitted to rebut or adjust.

Remedies contained in the bill are expressly cumulative and not intended to foreclose remedies that may exist or arise from interpretations of common law or state or federal laws. Amounts that may be recovered in prior tobacco settlements are credited against any losses to which those recoveries pertain.