Boston
Law: Banning of tobacco bans
Status: Pending
Why You Should Care: The town of Westminster, Mass., made national headlines last year when its board of health attempted an outright ban of tobacco sales. Although its efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, Massachusetts state lawmakers are looking to protect retailers’ rights to sell legal products with two different bills that would effectively ban a repeat of Westminster. That’s good news no matter where you operate.
Minneapolis
Law: Flavored-tobacco “ban”
Status: Passed; goes into effect Jan. 1, 2016
Why You Should Care: Sure, plenty of cities and municipalities have banned flavored tobacco products. The Minneapolis ordinance is unique in that it’s seemingly biased against c-stores. Specialty tobacco shops will be allowed to continue selling flavored products.
Topeka, Kan.
Law: 50-cent cigarette excise tax increase
Status: Passed; went into effect July 1, 2015
Why You Should Care: Given Kansas’ proximity to Missouri, home of the lowest cigarette excise tax in the country, many have predicted smokers will simply cross the border. If the state’s smuggling rate jumps this year, it would offer further proof of the correlation between taxes and black-market activity.
San Diego
Law: Tobacco advertising restrictions
Status: Repealed July 21, 2015
Why You Should Care: The National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) alerted San Diego’s City Council that many of the city’s advertising restrictions violated First Amendment free-speech protections—and council members actually listened, voting unanimously to repeal. Will other state and local legislatures be so receptive?
Honolulu
Law: Minimum-purchase age of 21
Status: Passed; goes into effect Jan. 1, 2016
Why You Should Care: The Aloha State may have been the first to increase the tobacco purchase age to 21, but it won’t be the last: At least seven other state legislatures are looking at similar proposals. (For more on the Hawaii law, see p. 19.)
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