State Rep. Henry Yanez, D-Sterling Heights, is the primary sponsor of a three-bill package of proposals, House Bills 5686-5688, introduced May 24. The bills, which have attracted co-sponsors, aim to regulate e-cigarettes and other electronic smoking devices.
The proposed legislation defines an electronic smoking device as “any device containing or delivering nicotine or any other substance intended for human consumption through the inhalation of vapor or aerosol from the product.”
Yanez said the bills would ban e-cigarette sales to minors and include e-cigarettes under the label of “tobacco products,” thus regulating them as such. The proposed legislation would also put a tax of 32 percent of the wholesale price on electronic smoking devices as defined in the text, which is similar to the tax on some other forms of tobacco, he said.
In addition, the proposal package, if made law, would restrict e-cigarette sales in vending machines and would mandate child-resistant packaging for electronic smoking devices.
Yanez said some of the tax money that could be raised from e-cigarettes and their fluids would go to a First Responder Presumed Coverage Fund to help firefighters fight work-related cancer. Funds could also go toward a state smoking prevention program and the Healthy Michigan Plan, which aims to offer low-cost health care coverage for qualified individuals, he said.
In explaining his reasoning behind the bill’s support, Yanez said e-cigarettes are not harmless and they can be a “gateway” that leads to smoking the real thing.
“Nicotine is extremely addictive, and it can actually lead to people beginning to smoke,” he said.
Yanez also said Michigan is the only remaining state to not ban sales to minors.
“I’m sorry to say that Michigan is the last state to allow minors to buy e-cigarettes,” he said. “If you’re a minor, a 13-year-old, you can go to the store and buy e-cigarettes.”
According to a statement from Gov. Rick Snyder’s office, the governor vetoed e-cigarette legislation in January 2015 because that proposed legislation didn’t put e-cigarettes under the definition of tobacco products.
“We need to make sure that e-cigarettes and other nicotine-containing devices are regulated in the best interest of public health,” Snyder said in the statement. “It’s important that these devices be treated like tobacco products and help people become aware of the dangers e-cigarettes pose.”
Yanez said the latest bills fixed that concern and are the result of much work.
“It’s a very technical bill, so it was very difficult to get the language well,” he said.
He said the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association offered input on the proposed legislation and the way to craft it. He said the groups wanted the bills to be comprehensive and to put up as many roadblocks as possible to prevent young people from using e-cigarettes.
Yanez said he tried to work with Snyder’s office to resolve any remaining concerns that the governor might have had.
“Unfortunately, we had one conversation with them and they never got back with us,” Yanez said.
Upon asking Snyder’s office to comment on Yanez’s bills, Snyder’s press secretary, Anna Heaton, said in an email that the governor doesn’t take a stance on bills this early in the legislative process since they tend to be altered through that process.
“If this bill package comes to his desk, he will give it a thorough review before deciding whether or not to sign it into law,” she said.
An emailed statement attributed to Cynthia Cabrera, president and executive director for the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association, responded to the news of the proposed bills. The statement said that vapor products are not tobacco products “as they contain no tobacco.”
“Regulating them the same has a host of consequences for small- and mid-sized businesses throughout the state, plus hundreds of manufacturers, distributors and related businesses that contribute to the local economy, generating taxes and thousands of jobs,” the statement said.
“Some of those consequences include the potential to be denied workers’ compensation and product liability insurance, as well as being forced out of financial institutions and merchant service agreements.”
Cabrera said the vapor industry has been in favor of “reasonable regulations” such as age restrictions and child-resistant packaging. But she said politicians should not demonize vapor products as an option for combustible cigarette smokers.
“Seeking to economically penalize a smoker attempting to switch to what science says is a less harmful alternative is counterproductive to public health,” she said.
A spokesman on behalf of SFATA said child-resistant packaging regulations became law nationally in 2016, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled in 2016 that — effective in August — its regulatory authority would extend to e-cigarettes, including the ability to ban sales to minors online and in person.
In a press release, Yanez said it’s still a good idea to change the state’s law for taxation and regulatory reasons even if the FDA’s e-cigarette ruling holds.
“The state of Michigan still has an important role to play in this issue and we need to act now,” he said.
In response to whether the bills’ electronic smoking device definition could inadvertently include nebulizers or inhalers for lung issues, Robert Becker, Yanez’s legislative director, said the issue came up, and there is no intent to tax medical supplies as opposed to smoking devices for recreational use.
But Becker said he didn’t believe that the bills’ text could be interpreted toward taxing asthma inhalers or nebulizers. For instance, he said the definition goes on to define examples, such as vape pens, e-hookahs “or any other similar device.” He also said the American Cancer Society found the bills’ language satisfactory.
Learn more about the bills by visiting www.michiganlegislature.org. Contact state Rep. Henry Yanez by visiting housedems.com/state-rep-henry-yanez or by calling (517) 373-2275. Learn more about the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association by visiting sfata.org.
Resource: http://www.candgnews.com/news/yanez-proposes-state-e-cigarette-regulations-93495
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