Z-0638.2
SENATE BILL 6157
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State of Washington | 64th Legislature | 2016 Regular Session |
By Senators Miloscia, Liias, Keiser, Litzow, McCoy, Chase, Conway, Pedersen, McAuliffe, and Frockt; by request of Attorney General
Prefiled 12/17/15. Read first time 01/11/16. Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 70.155.005 and 1993 c 507 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) The legislature finds that chapter ..., Laws of 2016 (this act) furthers the public health, safety, and welfare by reducing youth access to addictive and harmful products.
(2) While present state law prohibits the sale and distribution of tobacco and vapor products to ((minors)) youth under the age of eighteen, youth obtain ((tobacco)) these products with ease. ((Availability and lack of enforcement put tobacco products in the hands of youth.))
(3) The legislature recognizes that many people who purchase cigarettes for minors are between the ages of eighteen to twenty. By decreasing the number of eligible buyers in high school, raising the minimum legal age to sell tobacco and vapor products will decrease the access of students to tobacco products. According to the 2014 healthy youth survey, forty-one percent of tenth graders say it is "sort of easy" to "very easy" to get cigarettes. Nationally, among youth who smoke, more than twice as many get their cigarettes from social sources than from a store or vending machine.
(4) The legislature recognizes that ninety-five percent of smokers start by the age of twenty-one.
(5) The legislature recognizes that jurisdictions across the country are increasing the age of sale for tobacco products to twenty-one. More than ninety localities in eight states have raised the minimum legal smoking age to twenty-one. In June 2015, the state of Hawaii became the first state in the nation to increase the smoking age to twenty-one.
(6) The legislature recognizes the scientific report issued by the national institute of medicine, one of the most prestigious scientific authorities in the United States, which predicted that increasing the age of sale for tobacco products in the United States to twenty-one will significantly reduce the number of adolescents and young adults who start smoking, reduce deaths from smoking, and immediately improve the health of adolescents, young adults, young mothers, and their children.
(7) The legislature recognizes the national institute of medicine report predicted increasing the tobacco sale age will make the greatest difference among those ages fifteen to seventeen, who will no longer be able to pass for legal age and will have a harder time getting tobacco products from older classmates and friends. The national institute of medicine report also predicted raising the minimum age for the sale of tobacco products in the United States to twenty-one will, over time, reduce the smoking rate by about twelve percent and smoking-related deaths by ten percent.
(8) The legislature recognizes scientific study of the brain is increasingly showing that the brain continues to be highly vulnerable to addictive substances until age twenty-five. Nicotine adversely affects the development of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus in adolescents.
(9) The legislature recognizes that a strategy of increasing the minimum legal age for alcohol was highly successful in reducing adverse effects of alcohol consumption. A national drinking age of twenty-one resulted in reduced alcohol consumption among youth, decreased alcohol dependence, and has led to significant reductions in drunk driving fatalities.
(10) The legislature recognizes that if the age of sale is raised to twenty-one, eighteen to twenty year olds will likely substitute other in-store purchases for cigarettes. The legislature recognizes that when Needham, Massachusetts raised the smoking age to twenty-one in 2005, no convenience stores went out of business.
(11) The legislature recognizes that reducing the youth smoking rate will save lives and reduce health care costs. Every year, two billion eight hundred ten million dollars in health care costs can be directly attributed to tobacco use in Washington. Smoking-caused government expenditures cost every Washington household eight hundred twenty-one dollars per year.
(12) Federal law requires states to enforce laws prohibiting sale and distribution of tobacco products to minors in a manner that can reasonably be expected to reduce the extent to which the products are available to minors. It is imperative to effectively reduce the sale, distribution, and availability of tobacco products to minors.
Sec. 2. RCW 26.28.080 and 2013 c 47 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) ((Every)) A person who sells or gives, or permits to be sold or given, to ((any)) a person under the age of ((eighteen)) twenty-one years any cigar, cigarette, cigarette paper or wrapper, tobacco in any form, or a vapor product is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
(2) It shall be no defense to a prosecution for a violation of this section that the person acted, or was believed by the defendant to act, as agent or representative of another.
(3) For the purposes of this section, "vapor product" means ((a noncombustible tobacco-derived product containing nicotine that employs a mechanical heating element, battery, or circuit, regardless of shape or size, that can be used to heat a liquid nicotine solution contained in cartridges. Vapor product does not include any product that is regulated by the United States food and drug administration under chapter V of the federal food, drug, and cosmetic act)) any: (a) Device that employs a battery or other mechanism to heat a solution or substance to produce a vapor or aerosol intended for inhalation; (b) cartridge or container of a solution or substance intended to be used with or in such a device; or (c) solution or substance intended for use in such a device, including, but not limited to, concentrated nicotine. "Vapor product" includes any electronic cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems, electronic cigars, electronic cigarillos, electronic pipes, vape pens, or similar products or devices, as well as any parts that can be used to build such products or devices. "Vapor product" does not include any product that has been approved by the United States food and drug administration for sale as a tobacco cessation product or for other therapeutic purposes where the product is marketed and sold solely for such an approved purpose.
Sec. 3. RCW 70.155.010 and 2009 c 278 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
The definitions set forth in RCW
82.24.010 shall apply to this chapter. In addition, for the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise required by the context:
(1) "Board" means the Washington state liquor ((control)) and cannabis board.
(2) "Internet" means any computer network, telephonic network, or other electronic network.
(3) (("Minor" refers to an individual who is less than eighteen years old.
(4))) "Sample" means a tobacco product distributed to members of the general public at no cost or at nominal cost for product promotion purposes.
(((5))) (4) "Sampling" means the distribution of samples to members of the public.
(((6))) (5) "Tobacco product" means a product that contains tobacco and is intended for human use, including any product defined in RCW
82.24.010(2) or
82.26.010(((1))) (21), except that for the purposes of RCW
70.155.140 only, "tobacco product" does not include cigars defined in RCW
82.26.010 as to which one thousand units weigh more than three pounds.
(6) "Vapor product" means any: (a) Device that employs a battery or other mechanism to heat a solution or substance to produce a vapor or aerosol intended for inhalation; (b) cartridge or container of a solution or substance intended to be used with or in such a device; or (c) solution or substance intended for use in such a device, including, but not limited to, concentrated nicotine. "Vapor product" includes any electronic cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems, electronic cigars, electronic cigarillos, electronic pipes, vape pens, or similar products or devices, as well as any parts that can be used to build such products or devices. "Vapor product" does not include any product that has been approved by the United States food and drug administration for sale as a tobacco cessation product or for other therapeutic purposes where the product is marketed and sold solely for such an approved purpose.
Sec. 4. RCW 70.155.020 and 1993 c 507 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) Display the license or a copy in a prominent location at the outlet for which the license is issued; and
(2) Display a sign concerning the prohibition of tobacco and vapor product sales to ((minors)) persons under the age of twenty-one.
Such sign shall:
(a) Be posted so that it is clearly visible to anyone purchasing tobacco products from the licensee;
(b) Be designed and produced by the department of health to read: "THE SALE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND VAPOR PRODUCTS TO PERSONS UNDER AGE ((18)) 21 IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED BY STATE LAW. IF YOU ARE UNDER ((18)) 21, YOU COULD BE PENALIZED FOR PURCHASING A TOBACCO PRODUCT OR VAPOR PRODUCT; PHOTO ID REQUIRED"; and
(c) Be provided free of charge by the liquor ((control)) and cannabis board.
Sec. 5. 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 or vapor product through any device that mechanically dispenses tobacco products or vapor products unless the device is located fully within premises from which ((minors)) persons under the age of twenty-one are prohibited or in industrial worksites where ((minors)) persons under the age of twenty-one are not employed and not less than ten feet from all entrance or exit ways to and from each premise.
(2) 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.
Sec. 6. RCW 70.155.110 and 1993 c 507 s 12 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) The liquor
((control)) and cannabis board shall, in addition to the board's other powers and authorities, have the authority to enforce the provisions of this chapter and RCW
26.28.080(((4))) and
82.24.500. The liquor
((control)) and cannabis board shall have full power to revoke or suspend the license of any retailer or wholesaler in accordance with the provisions of RCW
70.155.100.
(2) The liquor ((control)) and cannabis board and the board's authorized agents or employees shall have full power and authority to enter any place of business where tobacco products or vapor products are sold for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this chapter.
(3) For the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this chapter and RCW
26.28.080(((4))) and
82.24.500, a peace officer or enforcement officer of the liquor
((control)) and cannabis board who has reasonable grounds to believe a person observed by the officer purchasing, attempting to purchase, or in possession of tobacco products
or vapor products is under the age of
((eighteen)) twenty-one years of age, may detain
((such)) a person for a reasonable period of time and in such a reasonable manner as is necessary to determine the person's true identity and date of birth. Further, tobacco products
or vapor products possessed by persons under the age of
((eighteen)) twenty-one years of age are considered contraband and may be seized by a peace officer or enforcement officer of the liquor
((control)) and cannabis board.
(4) The liquor ((control)) and cannabis board may work with local county health departments or districts and local law enforcement agencies to conduct random, unannounced, inspections to assure compliance.
Sec. 7. RCW 70.155.120 and 1993 c 507 s 13 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) The youth tobacco prevention account is created in the state treasury. All fees collected pursuant to RCW
82.24.520 and
82.24.530 and funds collected by the liquor
((control)) and cannabis board from the imposition of monetary penalties and samplers' fees shall be deposited into this account, except that ten percent of all such fees and penalties shall be deposited in the state general fund.
(2) Moneys appropriated from the youth tobacco prevention account to the department of health shall be used by the department of health for implementation of this chapter, including collection and reporting of data regarding enforcement and the extent to which access to tobacco products by youth has been reduced.
(3) The department of health shall enter into interagency agreements with the liquor ((control)) and cannabis board to pay the costs incurred, up to thirty percent of available funds, in carrying out its enforcement responsibilities under this chapter. Such agreements shall set forth standards of enforcement, consistent with the funding available, so as to reduce the extent to which tobacco products are available to individuals under the age of ((eighteen)) twenty-one. The agreements shall also set forth requirements for data reporting by the liquor ((control)) and cannabis board regarding its enforcement activities.
(4) The department of health and the department of revenue shall enter into an interagency agreement for payment of the cost of administering the tobacco retailer licensing system and for the provision of quarterly documentation of tobacco wholesaler, retailer, and vending machine names and locations.
(5) The department of health shall, within up to seventy percent of available funds, provide grants to local health departments or other local community agencies to develop and implement coordinated tobacco intervention strategies to prevent and reduce tobacco use by youth.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. 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.
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