A bill targeted at fighting the “vaping epidemic” in Kentucky was passed by the state House on March 11.
Sponsor Rebecca Raymer (R-Morgantown) explained how she was prompted to address the issue after hearing from school officials how “rampant the vaping is in our schools.”
Raymer said there is currently a “vaping epidemic,” and products being confiscated from students are not authorized by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
While House Bill 11 passed 62-26, there were concerns from members of both parties that it would not be effective in stopping youth from vaping and would instead harm small vaping businesses.
According to the bill, businesses would be required to acknowledge in their business filings with the secretary of state if they sell vaping products. This information would then be shared monthly with the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and the state Department of Revenue. ABC would then be responsible for designing a system that identifies and publishes retailers who violate the law.
For a first offense of selling vaping products to anyone under 21, retailers would be fined $100 to $500. The penalty for a second offense would be $1,000 and $5,000 for a third offense. Any retailer with a fourth violation in two years will be banned from selling vapes.
Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, says the bill takes important steps to reduce the access youths have to addictive nicotine products.
“Provisions of this bill will provide a more complete understanding of the retail landscape by creating a database of tobacco and nicotine product retailers, which is a critical first step to ensure that bad actors selling to underage kids are penalized,” said Brooks in a news release. “But the ability to hold retailers accountable for responsibility selling tobacco and nicotine products relies on regular compliance checks for underage sales violations. Youth have been targeted with flavored vape products and can quickly become dependent, but there are opportunities to stop this cycle. As HB 11 advances, we hope this bill can go even further by ensuring that regular compliance checks are included in statute.”
At the March 7 committee hearing, legislators heard similar sentiments from Mallory Jones, a junior at George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester.
“Addressing the source of these products is critical to reducing youth access and initiation of nicotine, but the rules are only as good as the enforcement that we put behind them,” said Jones.
During the House debate, the bill also faced opposition because it would ban products meant to be used by adults.
“This is being proposed as something that is designed to reduce harm in minor children, when in reality it will do no such thing. These products are already illegal,” said Representative Savannah Maddox (R-Dry Ridge). “What it will do is harm Kentucky’s businesses.”
Representative Rachel Roarx (D-Louisville) shared the concerns voiced by vape-shop owners. This included how the only FDA-approved products have high nicotine levels. She also said the bill is “granting a monopoly to certain companies.”
Representative Daniel Grossberg (D-Louisville) reported the majority of his emails and phone calls about the bill are from small business owners asking him to vote against it.
“The real problems [are] flavoring and marketing that target our kids,” said Grossberg. He further called for “stricter controls and enforcement for those who sell to minors, and regulate both the potency and the purity of these products, rather than ceding control to the FDA, who has done nothing effective about this. I too want to protect our kids.”
In response, Raymer said that the FDA has been granted authority to regulate these products, and this bill is in line with what the FDA says.
“I don’t think the FDA has done a great job in going through this list, but that is what we have to work with,” said Raymer. “And this is how we get the products that are being geared towards these minors off the shelf and the products that have gone through no safety checks, we don’t know what’s in them… They’re not just harmful for youth, they’re harmful for all Kentucky consumers.”
House Bill 11 is now on its way to the state Senate.