BILL REQ. #: H-0509.2
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/18/11. Referred to Committee on Health Care & Wellness.
AN ACT Relating to regulation of tobacco products; amending RCW 70.155.030 and 70.155.130; adding new sections to chapter 70.155 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature recognizes that the use of
tobacco products of all types is a significant public health problem.
Like cigarettes, cigars and smokeless tobacco can lead to lifelong
nicotine addiction. Cigar and cigarette smokers face comparable risks
for oral, throat and esophageal cancers. Smokeless tobacco products
similarly raise users' risk of various diseases including cancers of
the lip, tongue, cheeks, and gums.
The legislature further finds that the use of noncigarette tobacco
products by youth is on the rise in Washington state. From 2004 –
2008, youth consumption of tobacco products other than cigarettes
increased forty-three percent locally. This increase has coincided
with the emergence on the market of a number of tobacco products with
enormous appeal to youth. These products include flavored tobacco
products, such as flavored cigars and smokeless tobacco, and
dissolvable tobacco products, which closely resemble candy.
Although the sale of tobacco products to minors is illegal
throughout Washington, minors are still readily able to purchase
tobacco products from otherwise legally operating retail outlets.
Youth access to tobacco products is facilitated by the fact that these
products are not required to be stored behind a counter.
Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to reduce youth
access to tobacco products by restricting the sale of flavored tobacco
products and dissolvable tobacco products, and by requiring that
tobacco products be stored in a location that is inaccessible to youth.
By reducing youth access to tobacco products, the legislature intends
to reduce youth tobacco use rates and reduce the number of today's
children who will grow up to become addicted users, suffer from tobacco
use, and die prematurely from it.
Sec. 2 RCW 70.155.030 and 1994 c 202 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) No person shall sell or permit to be sold any tobacco product
through any device that mechanically dispenses tobacco products unless
the device is located fully within premises from which minors are
prohibited or in industrial worksites where minors are not employed and
not less than ten feet from all entrance or exit ways to and from each
premise. The board shall adopt rules that allow an exception to the
requirement that a device be located not less than ten feet from all
entrance or exit ways to and from a premise if it is architecturally
impractical for the device to be located not less than ten feet from
all entrance and exit ways.
(2) No person shall display or store tobacco products where those
products are accessible to consumers without direct assistance by the
sales personnel. This subsection shall not apply to the following:
(a) Vending machine sales as authorized by subsection (1) of this
section;
(b) A display of tobacco products that is located in a commercial
establishment in which by law no person younger than eighteen years of
age is permitted to enter at any time.
Sec. 3 RCW 70.155.130 and 1993 c 507 s 14 are each amended to
read as follows:
((This chapter preempts political subdivisions from adopting or
enforcing requirements for the licensure and regulation of tobacco
product promotions and sales within retail stores, except that
political subdivisions that have adopted ordinances prohibiting
sampling by January 1, 1993, may continue to enforce these ordinances.
No political subdivision may: (1) Impose fees or license requirements
on retail businesses for possessing or selling cigarettes or tobacco
products, other than general business taxes or license fees not
primarily levied on tobacco products; or (2) regulate or prohibit
activities covered by RCW 70.155.020 through 70.155.080.)) Nothing in
this chapter ((does not otherwise preempt political subdivisions from
adopting ordinances regulating the sale, purchase, use, or promotion of
tobacco products not inconsistent with chapter 507, Laws of 1993))
shall be construed to supersede or preempt local laws, ordinances, or
regulations if those laws, ordinances, or regulations are at least as
restrictive as the provisions of this chapter.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4 A new section is added to chapter 70.155 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) No person shall sell, distribute, offer for sale, or allow to
be sold or distributed any tobacco product or any component part
thereof that:
(a) Has or produces a distinguishable flavor, taste, or aroma other
than tobacco that can be readily perceived by a consumer or other
person through their sense of taste or smell either prior to or during
consumption;
(b) Does not have or produce such a distinguishable flavor, taste,
or aroma but is nevertheless labeled, advertised or otherwise marketed
by its manufacturer or its importer into the United States as having or
producing such a distinguishable flavor, taste, or aroma; or
(c) Includes, contains, or is comprised of capsular smokeless
tobacco.
(2) For the purposes of this section:
(a) "Capsular smokeless tobacco" means any product containing
tobacco that is intended or expected for oral consumption that does not
consist of loose tobacco and is offered in discrete single dose or
single use lozenges, pouches, pills, capsules, or other single dose or
single use units or in packages of such single dose or single use
units.
(b) "Tobacco product" includes any product containing tobacco or
nicotine that is expected or intended for human consumption except for:
(i) Any cigarette, as defined in RCW 82.24.010, and subject to the
special rule for cigarettes relating to characterizing flavors of the
federal family smoking and tobacco prevention act;
(ii) Any product that has been approved by the United States food
and drug administration, pursuant to its authority over drugs and
devices, for sale as a tobacco use cessation product or for other
medical purposes and is being marketed and sold solely for that
approved purpose.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5 A new section is added to chapter 70.155 RCW
to read as follows:
The board may suspend or revoke a retailer's license issued under
RCW 82.24.510(1)(b) or 82.26.150(1)(b) held by a business at any
location, or may impose a monetary penalty as set forth in RCW
70.155.100(2)(a), if the board finds that the licensee has violated
this chapter.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6 If any provision of this act or its
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other
persons or circumstances is not affected.