Hawaii legislation would ban e-cig sales to minors, require tobacco and e-cigs to be behind counter, and restrict ads

[Bill Godshall]

Hawaii legislation (HB 672 & SB 652) would ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, would require all retailers (who allow youth into their store) to locate tobacco and e-cigs behind retail counters, ban tobacco and e-cig advertisements within 4 feet of floor and within 25 feet of candy, cookies, gum, ice cream, snacks or children’s products.
Measure Status
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2013/bills/SB652_.pdf
Measure Status=

The House Health Committee held a hearing on HB 672 today, and deferred action until the 13^th of February.
Testimony already submitted is at
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2013/Testimony/HB672_TESTIMONY_HLT_02-08-13_.PDF
The only testimony submitted in support of HB 672 was by Coalition for a tobacco Free Hawaii, while about 60 comments opposed the bill.

SB 652 was referred to Senate Health Cmte, which scheduled a hearing for Feb 6^th and then deferred action till Feb 11^th.
Testimony can be submitted
Measure Status
The HI AG submitted testimony opposed SB 652 largely because the US Supreme Court already ruled that nearly identical advertising restrictions in MA were unconstitutional (in Lorillard v Reilly).
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2013/Testimony/SB652_TESTIMONY_HTH_02-04-13.PDF
The Hawaii Food Industry Association and virtuall all tobacco retailers in HI allso opposes the bill.
In 696 pages of submitted testimony, about 25 comments supported the bill, and about 650 comments opposed the bill.

Looks like both of these bill will be defeated.

But two other bills were introduced in HI to ban e-cig sales to minors. See next post.

 

[Bill Godshall]

Hawaii legislation (HB 896 & SB 1127) would ban e-cig sales to minors.
Measure Status
Measure Status
The Senate Health Cmte held a hearing on SB 1127 on Wednesday, and the Cmte deferred action on the bill until Monday. Testimony submitted to SB 1127 (about half supported incl. Health Dept. and Coalition for Tobacco Free HI, and about half opposed)
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2013/Testimony/SB1127_TESTIMONY_HTH_02-06-13.PDF
The House Health Cmte held a hearing on HB 896 today, and action was deferred until next Wednesday. Only two comments submitted, with the Coalition for a Tobacco Free HI supporting.
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2013/Testimony/HB896_TESTIMONY_HLT_02-08-13_.PDF

 

[Placebo Effect]

Volcano in Hawaii generated a considerable amount of opposition to SB652 on their Facebook page.

I believe the majority of those opposing SB1127 were confused about what was going on.

CASAA submitted the following comments

SB652

This comment is submitted on behalf of The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA), a nationwide non-profit organization representing thousands of consumers who use e-cigarettes and other smoke-free alternatives in order to quit smoking or sharply reduce cigarette consumption by switching to these life saving products. Our association, which is comprised solely of concerned volunteers, works to educate the public about these products and to protect the rights of our members and of smokers who want to switch to significantly less hazardous smoke-free tobacco/nicotine alternatives.

CASAA supports bans on the sale of e-cigarettes and other nicotine-containing products to minors, but believes that the provisions of SB652 are unnecessarily broad and overreaching and will have unintended consequences for adult consumers and businesses operating in good faith. As reduced harm products, smoke-free tobacco, e-cigarettes, and other non-combustible nicotine-containing products should be prominently displayed and advertised wherever traditional smoking products are sold. High visibility of these far safer products is imperative if smokers are to become more aware of their availability. CASAA believes that the advertising restrictions contained in SB652 will have the practical effect of limiting information to adult smokers and also potentially banning advertising from many small convenience stores in Hawaii.

CASAA is commenting separately on SB1127, but here notes that it believes that the provisions of SB1127 are more than adequate to safeguard the youth of Hawaii. Accordingly, CASAA respectfully urges the Senate Committee on Health to give an unfavorable report on SB652 and, instead, endorse SB1127 as a measured and considered response to ensuring that minors will not have access to e-cigarettes.

SB1127

This comment is submitted on behalf of The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA), a nationwide non-profit organization representing thousands of consumers who use e-cigarettes and other smoke-free alternatives in order to quit smoking or sharply reduce cigarette consumption by switching to these life saving products. Our association, which is comprised solely of concerned volunteers, works to educate the public about these products and to protect the rights of our members and of smokers who want to switch to significantly less hazardous smoke-free tobacco/nicotine alternatives.

CASAA supports bans on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors and urges the Senate Committee on Health to report favorably on SB1127.

The Committee is also considering SB652, which, in addition to banning sales of e-cigarettes to minors, includes a number of provisions ostensibly designed to reduce youth exposure to tobacco products and related advertising. CASAA is commenting separately on SB652, but here notes that it is not in support of SB652 and feels that the provisions of SB1127 are more than adequate to safeguard the youth of Hawaii.

 

[Bill Godshall]

It appears that SB 652 is dead because it failed to meet the Hawaii legislature's April 11 2nd crossover deadline.
Legislative Calendar