The governor proposes to double the state’s 30-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes — the second-lowest in the country — and use the money to lower health insurance premiums through a new state insurance marketplace and a reinsurance program to cover high-cost health care consumers.

Henrico County-based Altria, the largest tobacco company in the country, already came out in opposition of the plan. Expect it to wield its influence as the plan moves through the legislature.

Gaming

Northam and state lawmakers are also looking to protect existing sources of state revenues, such as the Virginia Lottery, which contributed more than $600 million in profits last year for public education. Northam called for state regulation and taxation of unlicensed electronic “skill” games that have proliferated across the state and cut sharply into lottery sales, revenue that he wants to offset by $125 million over two years in new taxes.

Northam is leaving it up to legislators to figure out exactly how.