The following legislative update has been provided by the National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO).
State tobacco-related legislative bills that have been introduced in the past week are listed below alphabetically by state:
Alaska: House Bill 110 imposes a tax on electronic smoking products (including e-liquid) at the rate of 75 percent of the wholesale price and increases the legal age to purchase and possess tobacco and vapor products to 21 years of age.
Arizona: Senate Bill 1103 was the subject of a strike-everything amendment in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Feb. 23, 2021, and now raises the minimum legal sales, purchase, use and possession age to 21, requires tobacco product retailers to obtain a license from the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control, and provides for penalties for sales to underage persons.
Arkansas: Senate Bill 337 provides that when two adjoining cities each have a population of five thousand or more and are separated by a state line, the tax on cigarettes sold in the adjoining Arkansas city will be at the rate imposed by law on cigarettes sold in the adjoining city outside of Arkansas plus 50 cents per 1,000. The tax on cigarettes sold in Arkansas within three hundred feet of a state line or in any Arkansas city that adjoins a state line will be at the rate imposed by law on cigarettes sold in the adjoining state plus 25 cents per 1,000. The tax on cigarettes will be at the rate imposed by law on cigarettes sold in the adjoining state when the cigarettes are sold in an Arkansas city or incorporated town whose corporate limits adjoin the corporate limits of an Arkansas border city. Senate Bill 338 allows a person purchasing an existing permitted tobacco retail location to, with the permission of the seller, operate under the selling owner’s permit for no more than thirty days from the date of the sale. SB338 passed the Senate City, County, and Local Affairs Committee as amended on Feb. 25, 2021.
Illinois: Senate Bill 699 prohibits the sale of flavored tobacco products (exempts menthol, mint, and wintergreen) and specifies that the Act does not preempt or otherwise prohibit the adoption of a local standard that imposes greater restrictions on the access to tobacco products, related tobacco products, alternative nicotine products, or solutions or substances intended for use with electronic cigarettes than the restrictions imposed by this Act. Senate Bill 540 states that nothing prohibits a home rule municipality that imposed a tax based on the number of units of cigarettes or other tobacco products before July 1, 1993, from imposing a tax on either the number of units of cigarettes or other tobacco products or both, on or after July 1, 1993. Senate Bill 512 makes it unlawful to sell, distribute acquire, hold, own, possess, or transport, for sale or distribution any electronic cigarette with packaging that: (A) bears any statement, label, stamp, sticker, or notice indicating that the manufacturer did not intend the electronic cigarette to be sold, distributed, or used in the United States, including, but not limited to, labels stating “For Export Only”, “U.S. Tax Exempt”, “For Use Outside U.S.”, or similar wording; (B) any electronic cigarette that the person otherwise knows or has reason to know the manufacturer did not intend to be sold, distributed, or used in the United States’ makes it unlawful to alter the packaging of an electronic cigarette, prior to sale or distribution to the ultimate consumer, so as to remove, conceal, or obscure any statement, label, stamp, sticker, or notice required under this Section or federal law; makes it unlawful to sell in any one transaction more than 2 electronic cigarettes, 4 prepackaged cartridges of electronic cigarette solution, or 100 milliliters of electronic cigarette solution to a consumer; makes it unlawful to adulterate an electronic cigarette for sale in this State; prohibits electronic cigarettes from containing polyethylene glycol (PEG), vitamin E acetate, or medium-chain triglycerides (MCT oil); and states that an e-cigarette may not be advertised as a modified risk tobacco product or a smoking cessation product unless it has been designated as such by the FDA. House Bill 3146 regulates the licensing for retailers of vapor products and prohibits the sale of vapor products to persons under 21.
Kentucky: Senate Bill 258 would remove employment protections for individuals who use tobacco products.
Massachusetts: House Docket 3862 provides that local Boards of Health shall not have the power to ban the sale of legal tobacco products by authorized stores, establishments and any other entities legally allowed to sell tobacco in the Commonwealth and within the existing by-laws of the community, wholesale or retail, without receiving the approval of a town board or city council to create such a by-law within the town or city.
Michigan: House Bill 4287 provides that beginning Nov. 1, 2021 through October 31, 2022, the cigar tax may not exceed 65 cents per individual cigar; then beginning Nov. 1, 2022, the cigar tax may not exceed 75 cents per individual cigar; then beginning Jan. 1, 2022, for consumable materials, the tax imposed is 18 percent of the wholesale price; and beginning Jan. 1, 2022, for alternative nicotine products, the tax imposed is 50 cents per ounce of alternative nicotine product on the basis of net weight of the alternative nicotine product as listed by the manufacturer.
