It would also get the Attorney General’s Office to report on the extent to which Vermont may legally restrict advertising and regulate labels for the products.
Several states in the Northeast have or are considering flavor bans. Connecticut also introduced a bill that would ban flavored e-cigarettes. New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island have barred the sale of flavored vaping products. Massachusetts banned all flavored tobacco items, including flavored cigars, cigarettes and vaping goods.
Vermont’s ban was originally proposed in early 2020 as a way to prevent youth use, but was sidelined after the Covid-19 pandemic began to impact the country.
By not scheduling a hearing, lawmakers in Hawaii have killed a bill proposing to ban flavored vaping and other tobacco products in the state.
Legislators had until Thursday to schedule the hearing for H.B. 551, however, the legislation failed to get voted out of a Hawaii Senate committee, meaning the bill will not move forward, according to KITV.
The bill passed the House earlier this month.
If passed, H.B. 551 would have banned the sales of flavored tobacco and vaping products effective Jan. 1, 2024.
Retailers caught violating the standard would have been fined at least $100 for a first offense and up to $1,000 for subsequent violations.
This is the latest attempt at banning flavored tobacco sales in Hawaii. Last year, the Hawaii Legislature passed a bill, but it was vetoed by the governor.
While H.B. 551 will not move forward, there’s another bill, S.B. 1447, that would remove Hawaii’s existing preemption clause regarding tobacco regulations.
This would allow counties to enact stricter laws than the state law, a way for bans on the sale of flavored tobacco and vaping products to begin.
S.B. 1447 has already passed the Hawaii Senate and is continuing to move forward in the Hawaii House of Representatives.
A proposal to ban all flavored vaping and other tobacco products in Maine is gaining momentum, with key lawmakers from both sides of the aisle lining up behind the bill.
The legislation sponsored by State Sen. Jill Duson is supported by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross and Senate President Troy Jackson, according to Union Leader.
It was printed on Friday, revealing details of the proposal for the first time. Committee meetings and public hearings will be scheduled in the coming weeks.
The measure would ban the use of all flavors in all vaping and other tobacco products sold in Maine, other than tobacco flavor. The ban would also include menthol.
Bill supporters say that the flavors are added to the products to attract teens and get them hooked on nicotine, even though vaping products are illegal for those under 21 to purchase.
Opponents say it would simply drive people out of state to buy flavored tobacco, which they argue should be available to adults who turn to vaping as a way to quit smoking.
Several cities in Maine have already banned flavored tobacco products.
Bar Harbor become the fifth town in the U.S. state to ban flavored tobacco products earlier this month.
A U.S. federal judge has thrown out a tobacco industry lawsuit against California’s statewide ban on the sale of flavored vaping and other tobacco products, reports Law360.
On March 15, Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo rejected the plaintiffs’ claim that the measure would unfairly discriminate against out-of-state businesses. Bencivengo argued that the contested law applies to sales only; manufacturers are still permitted to manufacture flavored tobacco products in California. Most manufacturers of flavored tobacco products are located outside California.
R.J. Reynolds and other tobacco companies sued California after voters approved the ban in a November referendum, claiming the law violates the federal Tobacco Control Act (TCA), as well as the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause.
The law was originally passed by the state legislature but didn’t take effect after industry opponents gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the November ballot.
In rejecting the TCA claim, Bencivengo cited a Ninth Circuit ruling in March 2022 that upheld a Los Angeles County ban on flavored tobacco products. The tobacco industry lawsuit also doesn’t meet the standards for arguing a state law discriminates against or unduly burdens interstate commerce, she argued.
The court also rejected the tobacco companies’ claim that out-of-state manufacturers of flavored tobacco products would be forced to change their operations to the tune of “tens of billions of dollars” to comply with the law’s new standards for tobacco products, an undue burden on interstate commerce.
California’s flavor ban doesn’t set new standards for the manufacture or marketing of tobacco products that depart from federal regulations, Bencivengo said. And financial losses for the tobacco industry alone are “not excessive enough for the Court to find that the ban substantially burdens interstate commerce,” she added, citing the law’s aims to protect public health.
The TCA also gives states the authority to “opt out of the market for flavored tobacco products,” Bencivengo said in the ruling, which does not allow the tobacco companies to file an amended complaint.
There is a flurry of flavor bans going on in Maine. In a unanimous vote by the town council, Bar Harbor has become the fifth town in the U.S. state to ban flavored tobacco products.
The new Bar Harbor ordinance takes effect June 1, 2023, and will end the sale of tobacco products with “any taste or smell relating to fruit, menthol, mint, wintergreen, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, honey, or any candy, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb or spice,” according to WMTW.
Legislation to create a statewide ban has been introduced in Augusta, which is expected to be taken up this session.
Federal law doesn’t block a ban on sales of flavored vaping products, menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products in Edina, Minn., the Eighth Circuit ruled Monday in a case brought by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and related companies, according to Bloomberg Law News.
The appeals court affirmed a lower-court ruling that kept the ban in place, on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a tobacco company challenge to a similar law in Los Angeles.
The unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit joined other federal appeals courts in holding that a local ban on tobacco products is constitutional.
Flavor bans are creating black markets that cost U.S. states a massive amount of money in lost taxes, according to the latest research.
Just go to any online consumer-to-consumer website and flavored vaping and other tobacco products are for sale in states with flavored tobacco bans. A quick search for menthol on sites such as Craigslist and OfferUp in California or Massachusetts, where flavored products are banned, will yield results for every flavor of vaping product from apple to vanilla for sale. You can also find nearly every brand of menthol cigarettes for purchase on the online black market.
New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island also have barred the sale of flavored vaping products. Massachusetts and California banned all flavored tobacco items, including flavored cigars, cigarettes and vaping goods. Since California’s flavored tobacco ban went into effect on Dec. 21, one week after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.’s contention that the new state law conflicted with federal law, the state’s black market for flavored tobacco products has grown exponentially.
Stat News reported that in January it visited 24 California vape shops throughout Oxnard, Ventura, Pasadena, El Monte, Carson and West Hollywood—all of which have had bans on flavored vapes on the books for at least a year and most for two or more years. Seventeen of the shops, or 70 percent, were selling the products anyway. In Oxnard, where the news group visited five shops, none of the stores sold flavored vapes.
States in the proximity of states that have enacted flavor bans have some of the highest tobacco smuggling rates in the country. A report by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that New York has the highest inbound smuggling activity, with an estimated 53.5 percent of cigarettes consumed in the state deriving from smuggled sources in 2020. New York is followed by California (44.8 percent).
New Hampshire has the highest level of net outbound smuggling at 52.4 percent of consumption. This is likely due to the state’s relatively low tax rates and proximity to states with strict tobacco regulations and high taxes. The report said the move by other Northeast states to raise cigarette taxes and ban certain tobacco products have made cigarette smuggling a lucrative criminal initiative.
“People respond to incentives,” said Adam Hoffer, the Tax Foundation’s director of excise tax policy. “As tax rates increase or products are banned from sale, consumers and producers search for ways around these penalties and restrictions.”
Last year, JAMA Internal Medicine published a study about the impact of banning flavored tobacco products in Massachusetts. The study found that the sale of flavored tobacco decreased following the ban. However, when comparing sales in Massachusetts with sales across 27 other states, the authors found that sales had decreased more in Massachusetts than in the control states.
“Such a result would indicate that the flavor ban has been a success. Unfortunately, the study left out a very important piece of information: cross-border trade,” Ulrik Boesen, also with the Tax Foundation, stated at the time. “The end result of the ban, in fact, is that Massachusetts is stuck with the societal costs associated with consumption while the revenue from taxing flavored tobacco products is being raised in neighboring states.”
A 2022 report from the Massachusetts Multi-Agency Illegal Tobacco Taskforce found that in 2021, state police and the Department of Revenue seized more than 5,000 packs of cigarettes and more than 100,000 vapor products. It also details multiple investigations and prosecutions, including ones leading to sentences of six months to a year. Some of these were for smuggling that predate the flavor ban, but others clearly involve it.
For example, the report notes an ongoing investigation into a February 2022 seizure of more than 5,000 flavored e-cigarettes as well as a motor vehicle stop that netted “a large quantity of untaxed flavored ENDS [electronic nicotine-delivery system] products, cigars, smokeless tobacco and cigarettes” representing $21,000 in unpaid taxes. “As it happens, looking at the New England region as a whole confirms that the flavor ban did not work as intended. Sales moved around rather than disappeared, and the ban evidently did not impact consumption,” stated Boesen. “Total sales for the region decreased by slightly more than 1 percent comparing the 12 months preceding the ban to the 12 months following the ban—largely comparable to the national sales trends.”
Cleveland, Ohio is considering a proposal that would ban the sales of flavored cigars and most other tobacco products within Ohio’s second-most populous city.
At a City Council Meeting this week, Council President Blaine A. Griffin, Ward 6, and Council Member Kevin Conwell, Ward 9, introduced a proposed ordinance that would ban the sale of almost all flavored tobacco products within Cleveland city limits.
Ordinance No. 184-2023 has one exception, it would allow hookah bars to sell flavored shisha tobacco for on-site consumption. There are no exemptions for flavored cigars of any kind, reports Charlie Minato of Halfwheel.
The law defines a flavored tobacco product as one “that imparts a taste or smell, other than the taste or smell of tobacco, that is distinguishable by an ordinary consumer either prior to, or during the consumption of, a Tobacco Product, including, but not limited to, any taste or smell relating to fruit, menthol, mint, wintergreen, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, honey, or any candy, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb, or spice.”
It would also ban retailers and manufacturers from advertising products as having a taste or smell other than tobacco, presumably targeting things like the cooling sensation of menthol cigarettes.
While the bill passed the Republican-controlled legislature during a lame-duck session, it was vetoed by Gov. Mike DeWine, also a Republican, who called for a statewide ban on flavored vaping products. DeWine’s veto allows for laws like the one proposed in Cleveland to be enacted.
A bill in the U.S. state of Vermont is gaining traction that would outlaw all flavored vaping and other tobacco products.
Sponsors of the legislation said the bill is an attempt to curve the spike of youth nicotine use and to improve the health of all Vermonters, according to NBC5.
“The health consequences are huge, we know of cardiovascular disease, lung disease, various cancers, and pre-cancerous chronic conditions like emphysema,” said Sen. Virginia Lyons, lead sponsor of the bill.
Lawmakers also acknowledged that while the state may lose money from tobacco tax revenue, it could be made up in healthcare savings with Vermont spending an average of $348 million annually to treat tobacco-caused illnesses.
NBC5 received the following statement on the potential ban from an R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company spokesperson.
“Reynolds is committed to Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) and we believe our portfolio of potentially reduced-risk products can play a critical role in its delivery. We strongly believe there are more effective ways to deliver tobacco harm reduction than banning menthol in cigarettes. Evidence from other markets where similar bans have been imposed demonstrates little impact on overall cigarette consumption.”
Several states in the Northeast have or are considering flavor bans. Connecticut also introduced a bill that would ban flavored e-cigarettes. New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island have barred the sale of flavored vaping products. Massachusetts banned all flavored tobacco items, including flavored cigars, cigarettes and vaping goods.
Vermont’s ban was originally proposed in early 2020 as a way to prevent youth use, but was sidelined after the Covid-19 pandemic began to impact the country.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong submitted testimony concerning House Bill 6488 stating that he fully supports the state’s proposed ban on flavored vaping and other tobacco products.
He also expressed concern that the “An Act Concerning Cigarettes, Tobacco Products, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Vapor Products” bill as currently written exempts the most widely used flavor—menthol—which must be included in the ban to deter youth addiction.
“Ending the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol, will have an enormous impact in reducing the number of people who die or suffer debilitating preventable illness from tobacco use, significantly reducing the number of young people who become addicted to tobacco products, and reversing the youth e-cigarette epidemic,” Tong states. “A comprehensive flavor ban that includes menthol will save thousands of Connecticut lives, protect public health, and advance health equity. It should be implemented immediately.”
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong
Tong stated that his office has a long history of battling tobacco companies “from negotiating the Master Settlement Agreement in the 1990s to the recently announced settlement with Juul, we have focused our efforts on combatting the insidious ways that Big Tobacco has marketed to children.”
The bill is the most recent effort by members of the legislature’s Public Health Committee to take flavored nicotine products off the market in an effort to reduce smoking and vaping among young people. Similar legislation has failed to make it across the finish line during recent legislative sessions.
Connecticut lawmakers heard testimony on legislation that would ban the sale of flavored tobacco and vape products as well as prohibit the use of vapes while in a vehicle with a child.
Connecticut is one of few states in the region that has not adopted a prohibition on flavored e-cigarettes. New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island have barred the sale of flavored vaping products. Massachusetts banned all flavored tobacco items, including flavored cigars, cigarettes and vaping goods.
Stat News
