BILL REQ. #:  S-0340.2 

Read first time 01/24/11.   Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection.

     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.