CALL TO ACTONS FOR SEVERAL STATES, URGENT (Maryland, Vermont and soon ARIZONA

[Stop Smoking]

ARIZONA SENATE BILL WOULD BAN THE INTERNET SALE OF ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES AND OTHER NON-COMBUSTIBLE tobacco PRODUCTS.. This has passed the Senate 30-0.

http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/50leg/2r/bills/sb1280s.pdf is the website for the bill.

Watch for CASAA call to action. CASAA | The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association

 

[MeowMix]

Wow. Seriously? This passed?

 

[jkmtwo]

Cigarettes are OK to buy on the internet, cuz they kill ya......but stuff that may get you off of the cigs.....you can't buy that cuz we want you to die.

And people seriously can't understand why government run health care is so damned terrifying.

 

[Freckle]

Does this mean that also residents in these states can not purchase online products?

This is horrible. We couldn't even get 1 vote?

 

[kritter]

Smells like BIG PHARMA!!

 

[Str8V8ping]

Does this mean that it cant be sold to even people who are not minors. If so thats completely ridiculous . Its harder for a minor to purchase online then in a store.How many minors have a credit card . Instead of banning it for everyone they could have done something like vendors must run a check on the cc to verify birth date. Theres always a way to do things to make everyone happy but they always choose the way with the least amount of thought or side with the majority with most money and influence.

Sometimes i think these gov officials are not living on the same planet as us .

 

[yvilla]

Stop Smoking, and others concerned about the Arizona situation, that's not the way I read this bill, SB 1280.

Section 1 of the new bill, that criminalizes the sale of tobacco products to minors, amends Title 13, Section 13-3622 of Arizona's Criminal Code. Where this new bill defines "tobacco products" that cannot be sold to minors to include electronic cigarettes, it expressly says "FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION" (look at page 2 of the pdf, line 21 of the bill text that you linked to).

However, Section 2 of the new bill, that prohibits delivery sales of tobacco products, amends Title 36, Chapter 6, Article 14 of Arizona's Public Health and Safety Code. It adds a new section to Article 14, Section 36-798.06, that contains all the delivery sales prohibitions. But, this part of the new bill does NOT include a new definition of "tobacco products". Thus, you would need to look at the existing definitions in Title 36, Chapter 6, Article 14 for the definition of "tobacco product" involved in these prohibitions. And that definition is found at Title 36, Chapter 6, Article 14 at Section 36-798. See it here: Format Document. If you want to see the whole of Titile 36, this is the link: Arizona Revised Statutes

THIS definition of "tobacco product" does NOT include electronic cigarettes, as the new definition for Section 1 does. The current relevant definitions are as follows:

7. "Smokeless tobacco" includes shredded tobacco, snuff, cavendish and plug, twist and other tobacco products that are intended for oral use but not for smoking.
8. "Smoking tobacco" includes any tobacco or tobacco product, other than cigarettes and cigars, that is intended to be smoked.
9. "Tobacco products" includes cigarettes, cigarette papers, cigars, smokeless tobacco and smoking tobacco.

In sum, as Bill Godshall asserted in the Legislative News section of the forum, I also do not believe this bill affects electronic cigarettes, other than to prohibit their sales to minors.

 

[OrthodoxAtheist]

I agree with yvilla, except to add that the definition of "tobacco product", as stated by the new provision as referenced on page 3, line 5 of the PDF, also includes the items described in Section 42-3052, subsections 5, 6, and 7, which read:

5. On each cigarette, nine-tenths cent.

6. On smoking tobacco, snuff, fine cut chewing tobacco, cut and granulated tobacco, shorts and refuse of fine cut chewing tobacco, and refuse, scraps, clippings, cuttings and sweepings of tobacco, excluding tobacco powder or tobacco products used exclusively for agricultural or horticultural purposes and unfit for human consumption, two cents per ounce or major fraction of an ounce.

7. On all cavendish, plug or twist tobacco, one-half cent per ounce or fractional part of an ounce.

most of which is covered by the definitions referenced by yvilla, but a few extras are contained therein. Regardless, it doesn't effect e-cigs.

Thanks, yvilla, for doing the leg work. I must admit I blindly followed the alarm bells sounded by our advising organizations. I'll have to be sure to do my own checking since it seems they aren't being as thorough as I thought before sounding the alarm. (not real disrespect meant... we're on 'the same side' here)

 

[hairball]

Sheww...I was worried when I saw this on facebook. Thank you both so very much for clearing the air about the bill.

 

[JustJulie]

Honestly, my initial impression looking at Arizona yesterday was that this was going to be another Vermont situation. In fact, I sat down this morning to comb through the statute in order to prepare a draft CTA. Looking at it with fresh eyes this morning, I combed through the existing statutes, compared provisions, and realized, as Yolanda noted, that the definition of "tobacco product" is different for purposes of the ban on sales to minors versus the delivery sales prohibition.

But the fact of the matter is that what went into committee as a fairly straightforward, simple ban of the sale of e-cigarettes to minors came out of committee as quite a bit more, and it managed to get passed by the Senate before many folks were even aware that it had changed at all.

CASAA has created a Legislative Committee to help track legislation. The more people we have, the less of an individual burden it will be. Work on the committee basically involves "owning" a piece of proposed legislation and checking on the status on a weekly basis--more often if appropriate. As new proposed legislation is brought to the attention of the committee, a determination is made as to whether a CTA should be prepared. Even if a CTA is not issued, certain legislation will still be tracked to ensure that unfavorable amendments don't get added in.

Anyone who has any interest in serving in the subcommittee, please send me a PM with your email address. I know it's not exactly sexy or exciting work, but it's so very, very necessary.

 

[TennDave]

 

[kristin]

must admit I blindly followed the alarm bells sounded by our advising organizations. I'll have to be sure to do my own checking since it seems they aren't being as thorough as I thought before sounding the alarm. (not real disrespect meant... we're on 'the same side' here)

Just an FYI - CASAA did not issue a Call to Action for Arizona and CASAA did not raise the alarm on Arizona. There was some discussion about this in the CASAA Facebook group and Julie and I determined the same thing as Yvilla - that this banned e-cigarette sales to minors but Section 2 didn't apply to e-cigarettes. CASAA was still looking into this when this thread was started and we posted on the We Are CASAA facebook page this morning our conclusion that, as far as e-cigs were concerned, this is just a ban on sales to minors.

CASAA wouldn't issue a CTA without thoroughly understanding the proposed legislation. (ie. CASAA is very thorough before sounding an official alarm, but not everything posted in this forum is an official post by CASAA, so people need to watch for an official CTA by CASAA.)

However, CASAA will still oppose the unfair regulation and the prohibition of internet sales of smoke-free tobacco alternatives in Arizona.

 

[Stop Smoking]

One of the worst written bills I have ever seen. One would think the term tobacco products would be a consistent term in a legislative body. It is not. On my fourth reading and after significant rolling through the entirety of Titles and statutes, the tobacco product definition for the internet portion is solely connected to an archaic definition (which is fine). This is an issue still in the First section in that they are defining the e-cigarette (but not e-juice) as a tobacco product for that section only. Much ado about nothing- not really. This is the stuff of the illiteracy that is so common in state bills. This thought process is being watched closely. The bill does not call into question e-cig sales or liquids. But you can take nic-liquid to school.

 

[bogs8812]

nvm, overlooked the chapter... xD

Stop Smoking, and others concerned about the Arizona situation, that's not the way I read this bill, SB 1280.

Section 1 of the new bill, that criminalizes the sale of tobacco products to minors, amends Title 13, Section 13-3622 of Arizona's Criminal Code. Where this new bill defines "tobacco products" that cannot be sold to minors to include electronic cigarettes, it expressly says "FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION" (look at page 2 of the pdf, line 21 of the bill text that you linked to).

However, Section 2 of the new bill, that prohibits delivery sales of tobacco products, amends Title 36, Chapter 6, Article 14 of Arizona's Public Health and Safety Code. It adds a new section to Article 14, Section 36-798.06, that contains all the delivery sales prohibitions. But, this part of the new bill does NOT include a new definition of "tobacco products". Thus, you would need to look at the existing definitions in Title 36, Chapter 6, Article 14 for the definition of "tobacco product" involved in these prohibitions. And that definition is found at Title 36, Chapter 6, Article 14 at Section 36-798. See it here: Format Document. If you want to see the whole of Titile 36, this is the link: Arizona Revised Statutes

THIS definition of "tobacco product" does NOT include electronic cigarettes, as the new definition for Section 1 does. The current relevant definitions are as follows:

7. "Smokeless tobacco" includes shredded tobacco, snuff, cavendish and plug, twist and other tobacco products that are intended for oral use but not for smoking.
8. "Smoking tobacco" includes any tobacco or tobacco product, other than cigarettes and cigars, that is intended to be smoked.
9. "Tobacco products" includes cigarettes, cigarette papers, cigars, smokeless tobacco and smoking tobacco.

In sum, as Bill Godshall asserted in the Legislative News section of the forum, I also do not believe this bill affects electronic cigarettes, other than to prohibit their sales to minors.