Virginia’s 2024 legislative session is likely going to send two bills regulating vaping and a new vaping tax to the governor’s desk.
Among the bills with a presumably higher impact is one that would create a new state registry that would limit sales to only FDA-approved products.
“It’s an important step to address childhood vape use,” said Rodney Willet, a cosponsor of the registry effort, according to media reports. The Henrico-based delegate says it would still open the door to sell plenty of vape products for consumers, but Midgette said the trendiness of the industry makes it hard for any one brand to stay popular.
“It’s an evolving business. There’s one brand everyone wants, then a few months later people want a different one,” Midgette said.
Midgette also pushed back on the FDA approval requirement, suggesting the products the federal government had approved represent a small and low-quality collection of brands.
Another bill would block any new shops from opening within 1000 feet of a school or daycare center.
But the business owner also noted a carve out made in Lopez’s bill for convenience stores and gas stations.
Last on the list is a new six-cent-per-mil of nicotine tax on vape products currently in the Senate budget.
“Six cents? That’s nothing,” Midgette joked, noting North Carolina added a five-cent tax already, and it’s handled by his distributors before being passed down to consumers.