URGENT - NYS Outright Sales Ban On the AGENDA Again

[yvilla]

The New York State Assembly Health Committee has A01468 on its meeting agenda for this coming Tuesday, 1/25, at 12 noon. If the bill is favorably reported out of committee, it will then go to the full Assembly for a vote - where the identical bill passed unanimously last year! It did not become law only because the Senate version never got out of the Senate Health Committee last year.

Here is the bill memo and text: Bills

It is Section 2 (starting at line 37) that purports to ban all sales (unless and until approved by the FDA as a cessation product), while Section 1 only bans sales to minors, etc.

While we probably have a better chance of stopping this in the NYS Senate, we still need to try and stop it at the Assembly level.

And while I would normally be asking for snail mail, because that would seem to be more effective than emails, due to the shortness of notice for Tuesday, I am begging people to send either emails or better yet faxes, and even more importantly, to please find some time on Monday and/or Tuesday morning to make phone calls, if not to all of the committee members, then at least to the Chair and one or two others.

New addition: CASAA now has a letter up on our site, that everyone is invited to use as is, or modified as you wish. It can be faxed, and it can be emailed. Please find the link to download it here: http://www.casaa.org/cta/article.asp?articleID=114&l=a&p=

Here is the full list of Assembly Health Committee members, and at the bottom of it you will find both semicolon and comma delimited email lists for ease of use:

Assembly Health Committee

Chair: Richard N. Gottfried D (a cosponsor)
Albany Office
LOB 822
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4941
Fax: 518-455-5939

Jonathan L. Bing D
Albany Office
LOB 744
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4794
f 518- 455-4629

Kevin A. Cahill D
Albany Office
LOB 713
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4436
f 518- 455-5576

Robert Castelli R
Albany Office
LOB 820
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5397
f 518-455-5041

James D. Conte R
Albany Office
LOB 446
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5732
f 518- 455-5553

Steven Cymbrowitz D (a cosponsor)
Albany Office
LOB 538
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5214
f 518- 455-5738

Jeffrey Dinowitz D
Albany Office
LOB 824
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5965
f 518 455-4437

Sandy Galef D (a cosponsor)
Albany Office
LOB 641
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5348
f 518-455-5728

Aileen Gunther D
Albany Office
LOB 435
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5355
f 518-455-5239

Andrew Hevesi D
Albany Office
LOB 833
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4926
f 518- 455-5173

Rhoda Jacobs D
Albany Office
LOB 736
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5385
f 518- 455-3881

Charles D. Lavine D
Albany Office
LOB 441
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5456
Fax: 518-455-5467

William B. Magnarelli D
Albany Office
LOB 841
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4826
f 518- 455-5498

Nettie Mayersohn D
Albany Office
LOB 746
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4404
f 518- 455-5408

David G. McDonough R
Albany Office
LOB 443
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4633
FAX 518-455-5559

Joel M. Miller R
Albany Office
LOB 437
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5725
f 518- 455-5729

Amy Paulin D
Albany Office
LOB 627
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5585
f 518- 455-5409

Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes D
Albany Office
LOB 619
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5005
fax 518- 455-5471

Naomi Rivera D
Albany Office
LOB 652
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5844
f 518- 455-5596

Linda B. Rosenthal D (primary bill sponsor)
Albany Office
821 LOB
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5802
fax (518) 455-5015

Robin Schimminger D
Albany Office
LOB 847
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4767
fax (518) 455-4724

Lou tobacco R (a cosponsor)
Albany Office
Room 722
Legislative Office Bldg.
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4495
fax (518) 455-4501

Darryl C. Towns D
Albany Office
LOB 424
ALBANY, NY 12248
518-455-5821
fax (518) 455-5591

Semicolon delimited email list:

GottfriedR@assembly.state.ny.us; bingj@assembly.state.ny.us; CahillK@assembly.state.ny.us;
CastelliR@assembly.state.ny.us; ConteJ@assembly.state.ny.us; CymbroS@assembly.state.ny.us; DinowiJ@assembly.state.ny.us; GalefS@assembly.state.ny.us; GuntheA@assembly.state.ny.us; HevesiA@assembly.state.ny.us;

JacobsR@assembly.state.ny.us; LavineC@assembly.state.ny.us; MagnarW@assembly.state.ny.us; MayersN@assembly.state.ny.us; McDonoD@assembly.state.ny.us; MillerJ@assembly.state.ny.us; PaulinA@assembly.state.ny.us; PeopleC@assembly.state.ny.us; RiveraN@assembly.state.ny.us; RosentL@assembly.state.ny.us; SchimmR@assembly.state.ny.us; TobaccoL@assembly.state.ny.us; TownsD@assembly.state.ny.us

Comma delimited email list

GottfriedR@assembly.state.ny.us, bingj@assembly.state.ny.us, CahillK@assembly.state.ny.us,
CastelliR@assembly.state.ny.us, ConteJ@assembly.state.ny.us, CymbroS@assembly.state.ny.us, DinowiJ@assembly.state.ny.us, GalefS@assembly.state.ny.us, GuntheA@assembly.state.ny.us, HevesiA@assembly.state.ny.us,

JacobsR@assembly.state.ny.us, LavineC@assembly.state.ny.us, MagnarW@assembly.state.ny.us, MayersN@assembly.state.ny.us, McDonoD@assembly.state.ny.us, MillerJ@assembly.state.ny.us, PaulinA@assembly.state.ny.us, PeopleC@assembly.state.ny.us, RiveraN@assembly.state.ny.us, RosentL@assembly.state.ny.us, SchimmR@assembly.state.ny.us, TobaccoL@assembly.state.ny.us, TownsD@assembly.state.ny.us





CRITICAL Update

We discovered when calling today that the list of Health Committee members on the Assembly website has NOT been updated since the recent elections. There are four additional members to contact (and Castelli, at least, is no longer on the committee). The four new members to contact are:

Christopher S. Friend
Albany Office
Room 720
Legislative Office Bldg.
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4538
fax 607 348 1500 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (office says no Albany fax, they get from local office via email)
friendc@assembly.state.ny.us

Andy Goodell
Albany Office
LOB 547
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4511
fax 518 455 4328
goodella@assembly.state.ny.us

Edward P. Ra
Albany Office
LOB 544
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4627
fax 518 455 4643
rae@assembly.state.ny.us

Andrew P. Raia
Albany Office
LOB 629
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5952
fax 518 455 5804
raiaa@assembly.state.ny.us

 

[yvilla]

I will be back with the list of Senate Health Committee members in due course, but we have a little more time to deal with that committee. And mailed letters will really be the ideal for them.

 

[dee5]

Y- will they even pay attention to faxes from out of state? If you think they will then I'll be happy to help!

 

[Janetda]

Thanks YVilla! For National Vapers Club members, we're setting up Vapebans.com right now with auto emails. This is for anyone that wants the convenience using an auto email system.

EDIT: www.Vapebans.com is up and running. You can go there to easily send your emails to the Health Com. We also suggest that you call on Monday to let your thoughts be known. Calls often have more impact than emails.

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[yvilla]

Please do Dee.

You must have some friend or relative you can be concerned for in NYS?

A PS, not to Dee, but to all: It would be good idea to say we do support the ban on sales to minors, but want Section 2 deleted (in substance).

 

[r8ross]

Emails have been sent. Printing out letters to go out by snail mail in the morning. Faxes will go out tomorrow as well.

 

[BadThad]

Horrible bill!

Will they even accept out of state comments?

 

[r8ross]

Every little bit helps BadThad Anything to help get the point and facts across.

 

[rekeybobby]

just went added my two cents it was very quick http://www.vapebans.com/NY.html

 

[PapaBloog]

I'm from CA - so, snail mail won't reach NY by Tues -- I have sent emails, and will begin faxing tomorrow.

By the way, why the late notice? Did the notice to convene for a vote only just now appear? Any chance we could get more advanced notice on these votes? We're here to help out in any way!

 

[Treece]

Horrible bill!

Will they even accept out of state comments?

Here's how I handled the out-of-state issue:

Subject: Please vote NO on A01468 (electronic cigarettes)!

Dear Assemblymember _________,

I'm very disheartened to hear of the bill that would ban the sale of electronic cigarettes in New York. I switched to an electronic cigarette almost two years ago after smoking for more than 30 years. It's one of the best decisions I've ever made.

There are several companies I order from in New York, so this will affect me directly, as well as thousands of others around the country. My deeper concern, however, is for all the former smokers in New York who have already switched to electronic cigarettes, and for the current smokers who might never have the opportunity to choose to do so.

The American Association of Public Health Physicians estimates the risks of using e-cigarettes to be "much less than 1%" of the risk of smoking traditional cigarettes. It makes no sense to ban the least dangerous product while leaving the most dangerous on the shelves. This would be a terrible blow to the health of New Yorkers--and it plays directly into the hands of Big tobacco, which would of course prefer that people continue to smoke.

Banning e-cigarette sales to minors is, of course, warranted. Banning sales to adults is unconscionable.

Please, I urge you to vote "no" on A01468.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely

 

[Danger Bunny]

Emails sent. http://www.vapebans.com/NY.html

 

[yvilla]

I'm from CA - so, snail mail won't reach NY by Tues -- I have sent emails, and will begin faxing tomorrow.

By the way, why the late notice? Did the notice to convene for a vote only just now appear? Any chance we could get more advanced notice on these votes? We're here to help out in any way!

I've been watching the NYS legislative pages carefully PapaBloog, both the Senate and the Assembly, knowing this bill has been proposed for both houses. When I discovered earlier today that the bill was on Tuesday's agenda for the Assembly Health Committee, I checked the Assembly rules, and sure enough, all they have to provide by way of notice of committee meeting agendas is by Thursday of the week before the meeting, as follows: "In addition, copies of such agenda shall be made available not later than such Thursday to rep-resentatives of the news media and to the general public by the filing thereof with the Legislative Library and the Assembly Public Information Office." From: Assembly Rules (see, 2b).

That's why we have to get going on the Senate Health Committee soon too, even though we have no idea when (or if) the Senate version of the bill will be on its agenda. More on this tomorrow!

 

[yvilla]

Here's how I handled the out-of-state issue:

Excellent letter, and wonderful ideas for out-of-staters. Thank you Treece!

 

[IOU]

Here's how I handled the out-of-state issue:

Subject: Please vote NO on A01468 (electronic cigarettes)!

Dear Assemblymember _________,

I'm very disheartened to hear of the bill that would ban the sale of electronic cigarettes in New York. I switched to an electronic cigarette almost two years ago after smoking for more than 30 years. It's one of the best decisions I've ever made.

There are several companies I order from in New York, so this will affect me directly, as well as thousands of others around the country. My deeper concern, however, is for all the former smokers in New York who have already switched to electronic cigarettes, and for the current smokers who might never have the opportunity to choose do so.

The American Association of Public Health Physicians estimates the risks of using e-cigarettes to be "much less than 1%" of the risk of smoking traditional cigarettes. It makes no sense to ban the least dangerous product while leaving the most dangerous on the shelves. This would be a terrible blow to the health of New Yorkers--and it plays directly into the hands of Big Tobacco, which would of course prefer that people continue to smoke.

Banning e-cigarette sales to minors is, of course, warranted. Banning sales to adults is unconscionable.

Please, I urge you to vote "no" on A01468.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely

Awesome letter!
Sent.

 

[CES]

Thanks YVilla! For National Vapers Club members, we're setting up Vapebans.com right now with auto emails. This is for anyone that wants the convenience using an auto email system.

The auto email was great! I received an email from the vapers club, hit the link, and opened a message in my outlook program that was ready to go. It was beautiful. Thanks for setting it up.

 

[peekers93]

On it!!! I stumbled it to Alan, as well.

 

[tigerlily]

I don't know if my out-of-state e-mail will help, but I've done what I could. If the NY state legislature is anything like ours they don't really bother researching this stuff before passing laws to regulate it. Perhaps if they get inundated with opposition they will think twice.

 

[Petrodus]

If the NY state legislature is anything like ours they don't really bother researching this stuff before passing laws to regulate it. Perhaps if they get inundated with opposition they will think twice.

They aren't going to do any research. All they see is there is a proposed ban regarding
a "Behavior" that is NOT "Sociably acceptable". No harm in banning it.

Based on past experience... Emails mean little to nothing to our elected representatives.
Most never even see them.

 

[Unchained]

You have to at least try I dont want to become a criminal. N.Y. was one of the first to enact cig bans now they are nationwide even worldwide. Seems like we pave the way if it gets through here you better watch out where you are.