Hawaii proposing a 70% tax on ecigs.....

[lorikay13]

Thank you Annette from Virgin Vapor for alerting us to this situation and supplying these links:

Measure Status

Submit your testimony to fight this here:
Submit Online Testimony

You do not have to be a resident of Hawaii apparently to submit a testimony....so I highly encourage everyone to take the time to do this!!!!

 

[Allazar]

Thank you Annette from Virgin Vapor for alerting us to this situation and supplying these links:

Measure Status

Submit your testimony to fight this here:
Submit Online Testimony

You do not have to be a resident of Hawaii apparently to submit a testimony....so I highly encourage everyone to take the time to do this!!!!

Is it just me, or if the community had it to do over again the term electronic cigarette would have not been used for political reasons and we would have used personal vaporizer?

It seems that we face many remaining political issues due to a lack of understanding on the part of non-smokers and non-vapers based upon the term e-cigarette that we might not face otherwise. *sighs*

Thanks for the update LK, I will go give them my 2 cents now... maybe it will help. Or maybe, this is just a way for the state to attempt to tack on an extra tax for something they can tie to a politically unpopular thing like smoking due to lost revenue from former smokers that have decided to become vapers.

 

[mwa102464]

I tried to submit testimony but it says I cant do it, or they are not taking testimony at this time, if you search there is also no testimony on this from what I have found going to the website, is anyone else having issues, I get a control number and when I try to submit testimony it wont go through. These politicians are making me sicker and sicker these days and there all on the dam take getting kickbacks, every dam last one of them from local to the federal level should be fully investigated followed & filmed on a daily basis where they go and who they meet with, as well as fully audited. There should also be a new law passed by the people, a law stating that any politician( Local or federal ) that gets caught committing a crime of any sort while in office should do life in prison !

 

[Allazar]

I tried to submit testimony but it says I cant do it, or they are not taking testimony at this time, if you search there is also no testimony on this from what I have found going to the website, is anyone else having issues, I get a control number and when I try to submit testimony it wont go through. These politicians are making me sicker and sicker these days and there all on the dam take getting kickbacks, every dam last one of them from local to the federal level should be fully investigated followed & filmed on a daily basis where they go and who they meet with, as well as fully audited. There should also be a new law passed by the people, a law stating that any politician( Local or federal ) that gets caught committing a crime of any sort while in office should do life in prison !

I just completed submitting my testimony using my gmail account (not obviously from outside of their jurisdiction so they may be limiting who can submit testimony based upon your email address which is why I used gmail).

Here is a step by step process:

1. Go to the second link LK posted Submit Online Testimony and in the box where it says "Enter a measure to retrieve the corresponding hearing notice" type SB2819 and press submit.
2. Then in the new portion of the webpage that opens below that where it says enter information, enter your name and email address.
3. Select individual radio button.
4. Select the oppose radio button.
5. Select the radio button that you will not be present at the hearing.
6. Create a Word document and save it to tyour computer.
7. Use the browse button to upload the Word document
8. Add any additional comments you might have.
9. Below all of that is a checkbox you select saying that you agree to the terms above and finally click on the Submit Testimony button.

Hope this helps!

 

[CES]

I'll be testifying.. I've got letters that i wrote to my state reps last year, that i have to update anyway to deal with my stoopid city council , who is trying to include e-cigs in a smoking ban

Allazar, thanks for the step-by-step instuctions!

( i suspect if we'd started with the term PV they'd already have been banned. the term E-cigs is part of what alllowed the successful legal fight to have them classified as tobacco products instead of medical devices. I know that doesn't sound like a good thing right now, but regulation as medical devices would have led to a ban until "safety and efficacy" testing was completed, several years and millions of dollars later. At least this way we still get to vape while we fight)

 

[Ravens Rose]

Senator David Y. Ige Offers Remarks on Senate Bill 2819 @ Hawai'i Senate Majority Caucus

 

[CES]

I am such an idiot- i kept thinking i was getting an error message...so i think i submitted 4 times

thanks for the link Raven! it sounds like a WIN!

(the hearing is tomorrow)

 

[Allazar]

Senator David Y. Ige Offers Remarks on Senate Bill 2819 @ Hawai'i Senate Majority Caucus

Thanks for the update Raven. I went and found my comments (ending on page 1233 of 1251 so I am not sure how effective they are) at the following link about the bill. Measure Status

It appears that the committee decision will be made tomorrow as it was delayed until Friday. Unfortunately, with all of the regular heavy-hitter anti-smoking organizations seeing the word "smoking" or "cigarette" submitting their testimony in favor of the bill we will just have to see what happens. I did notice that individuals not associated with an anti-smoking organization were almost 2 to 1 in opposition, so perhaps that will mean something... the anti-smoking groups brought that back to likely a 50/50 split though.

*political rant begins*

Tough to be optimistic about any sense from our elected politicians these days since they all spend their time catering to those with the money and resources to get them reelected or pandering to the special interest groups with the same. Without some form of effective campaign finance reform and redistricting reform to prevent gerrymandering, it is only a matter of time, if it is not already too late, before we reach a point that our government may never accurately reflect the interests or opinions of the majority ever again. Decisions by our current Supreme Court such as the one in Citizens United providing corporations with equivalent rights as citizens certainly do not help matters either!

*political rant ends*

I am truly afraid that ultimately, our government will either quash the e-cigarette business entirely, or regulate it to an extent that only the major tobacco companies will be capable of making a profit and be involved in it, greatly lowering the current ethical standards and community spirit in place from companies such as Smoke Stik.

*crosses fingers and hopes he is wrong while continuing to send in opinions to government officials*

 

[CES]

TomCatt posted this link in the main Hawaii thread

Electronic Cigarettes Debated At Legislature | Hawaii Reporter

 

[Ravens Rose]

Allazar... I am afraid of the same thing.

When I lived in NJ e-cigs were put under the smoking laws... not sure about FL but I just tend now to not vape in non smoking areas. At Vapestock we were told to go to the smoking areas... in the conference room people did but not when we were in the restaurant, etc. we were told No.

 

[lorikay13]

What worries me most is that when Big TObacco gets involved in vaping they will use the exact same tactics to get people addicted and stay addicted that they used with cigarettes...only it will be much worse. I have no doubt that one of the first things they will do is use free base nicotine (crack nicotine) in eliquid so that the ecig will deliver the same lightening fast rush that a cigarette does. Ans who knows what else they will put in it.

These tactics btw are the exact reason why SmokeStik bends over backwards never to use words like "healthy","safe",quit smoking" etc. And we are the antithesis of hard sell......my opinion is that once it's in the customers hand....the product sells itself. But we NEVER counsel people on the phone as to what they should do or not do. We always tell them the complete truth when asked...."well this has got to be safer than cigarettes right?" And the truth is......we don't know. No one knows. Ecig companies (and kudos to ECF for putting a ban on this kind of advertising!) who tout themselves as safer,healthier or in any way better for you than smoking are a BIG part of the problem. If no one had ever done that.....I promise you it would not be such a big contreversy.....that coupled with the ads and hype about using the ecig to quit smoking are what did us in. just my humble opinion

 

[Allazar]

I can see that the measure moved out of committee, but also that it was amended. The website is a little confusing, but at least initially it looks like they are moving forward the under 18 requirement while striking the taxation part? Is my interpretation correct? If so, then that would be a win for everyone, since ecigs should not be sold to minors imo.

 

[lorikay13]

I totally agree.....I really bugs me when I see ecig companies marketing to the 18-25 crowd......because that is a very fine line. I would personally like to see all ecig products with part of the warning label stating...."for adults who ALREADY use nicotine" or something to that effect. The first sentence on the SmokeStik cartomizer box says this:

"SmokeStik products are only intended for use by persons of legal smoking age, NOT by nonsmokers or children........"