What's happening
This bill amends public health law to regulate electronic cigarettes like tobacco, raise the age for purchase to 21, and expand enforcement and reporting requirements.
Why it matters
Expands state oversight and data collection. by requiring comprehensive reporting on both tobacco and electronic cigarette (vaping) sales, usage, enforcement actions, and compliance checks—including data on fires and injuries—enabling more informed public health interventions.
Aligns enforcement and evaluation programs. for e-cigarettes with those for traditional tobacco, meaning funding, compliance checks, and penalties will now cover vapor products dealers, potentially increasing accountability and reducing illegal sales.
Broadens prevention and education efforts. to include electronic cigarettes, mandating that state programs and evaluations address attitudes and behaviors toward vaping, not just smoking—reflecting the shift in youth and young adult nicotine use patterns.
Raises the purchase age and reporting requirements statewide,. which could significantly impact youth access and usage rates, and compels ongoing government transparency about progress and challenges in curbing nicotine product use among those under 21.
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Who cares
Vapor products dealers
The bill would add them to enforcement funding plans and reporting on unlicensed sellers, complaints and penalties.
- Likely support
Local enforcement officers
The bill would allow enforcement funds to support approved electronic cigarette enforcement activities and require licensed vapor dealer counts to factor into funding allocations.
New York State Department of Health
The bill would expand its prevention, education, evaluation and reporting responsibilities to include electronic cigarettes.
People under 21
The bill would make them the focus of tobacco and electronic cigarette use reduction efforts and reporting, replacing references to minors or people under 18.
Headline styles
Regulate E-Cigs Like Tobacco
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Reported and committed to rules
- Referred to health
- Print number 3905a
- Amend and recommit to health
- Referred to health
Full text
4 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3905--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 21, 2019
Introduced by Sens. RIVERA, PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to including electronic cigarettes in the regulation of tobacco products
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 1399-aa of the public health law is amended by adding a new subdivision 14 to read as follows:
14. "Vapor products dealer" shall have the same meaning as in subdivision (b) of section eleven hundred eighty of the tax law.
§ 2. Section 1399-hh of the public health law, as added by chapter 433 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
§ 1399-hh. Tobacco and electronic cigarette enforcement. The commissioner shall develop, plan and implement a comprehensive program to reduce the prevalence of tobacco and electronic cigarette use, particularly among persons less than [eighteen] twenty-one years of age. This program shall include, but not be limited to, support for enforcement of this article [thirteen-F of this chapter].
1. An enforcement officer, as defined in section thirteen hundred ninety-nine-t of this chapter, may annually, on such dates as shall be fixed by the commissioner, submit an application for such monies as are made available for such purpose. Such application shall be in such form as prescribed by the commissioner and shall include, but not be limited to, plans regarding random spot checks, including the number and types of compliance checks that will be conducted, and other activities to determine compliance with this article. Each such plan shall include an agreement to report to the commissioner: the names and addresses of tobacco retailers and vendors and vapor products dealers determined to be unlicensed, if any; the number of complaints filed against licensed
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01661-06-9
S. 3905--A 2
tobacco retail outlets and vapor products dealers; and the names of tobacco retailers and vendors and vapor products dealers who have paid fines, or have been otherwise penalized, due to enforcement actions.
2. The commissioner shall distribute such monies as are made available for such purpose to enforcement officers and, in so doing, consider the number of licensed vapor products dealers and retail locations registered to sell tobacco products within the jurisdiction of the enforcement officer and the level of proposed activities.
3. Monies made available to enforcement officers pursuant to this section shall only be used for local tobacco and electronic cigarette enforcement activities approved by the commissioner.
§ 3. Section 1399-jj of the public health law, as amended by chapter 1 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows:
§ 1399-jj. Evaluation requirements. 1. The commissioner shall evaluate the effectiveness of the efforts by state and local governments to reduce the use of tobacco products and electronic cigarettes among minors and adults. The principal measurements of effectiveness shall include negative attitudes toward tobacco and electronic cigarette use and reduction of tobacco and electronic cigarette use among the general population, and given target populations.
2. The commissioner shall ensure that, to the extent practicable, the most current research findings regarding mechanisms to reduce and change attitudes toward tobacco and electronic cigarette use are used in tobacco and electronic cigarette education programs administered by the department.
3. To diminish tobacco and electronic cigarette use among minors and adults, the commissioner shall ensure that, to the extent practicable, the following is achieved:
The department shall conduct an independent evaluation of the statewide tobacco use prevention and control program under section thirteen hundred ninety-nine-ii of this article. The purpose of this evaluation is to direct the most efficient allocation of state resources devoted to tobacco and electronic cigarette education and cessation to accomplish the maximum prevention and reduction of tobacco and electronic cigarette use among minors and adults. Such evaluation shall be provided to the governor, the majority leader of the senate and the speaker of the assembly on or before September first, two thousand one, and annually on or before such date thereafter. The comprehensive evaluation design shall be guided by the following:
(a) sound evaluation principles including, to the extent feasible, elements of controlled experimental methods;
(b) an evaluation of the comparative effectiveness of individual program designs which shall be used in funding decisions and program modifications; and
(c) an evaluation of other programs identified by state agencies, local lead agencies, and federal agencies.
§ 4. Section 1399-kk of the public health law, as added by chapter 433 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
§ 1399-kk. Annual tobacco and e-cigarette enforcement reporting. The commissioner shall submit to the governor and the legislature an interim tobacco control report and annual tobacco control reports which shall describe the extent of the use of tobacco products and e-cigarettes by [minors] those under the age of twenty-one in the state and document the progress state and local governments have made in reducing such use among [minors] those under the age of twenty-one.
S. 3905--A 3
1. The interim tobacco and e-cigarette control report. The commissioner shall submit to the governor and the legislature an interim tobacco and e-cigarette control report on or before September first, nineteen hundred ninety-eight. Such interim report shall, to the extent practicable, include the following information on a county by county basis:
(a) number of licensed and registered tobacco retailers and vendors and licensed vapor products dealers;
(b) the names and addresses of retailers and vendors who have paid fines, or have been otherwise penalized, due to enforcement actions;
(c) the number of complaints filed against licensed and registered tobacco retailers and licensed vapor products dealers;
(d) the number of fires caused or believed to be caused by tobacco products and e-cigarettes and deaths and injuries resulting therefrom;
(e) the number and type of compliance checks conducted; and
(f) such other information as the commissioner deems appropriate.
2. The commissioner shall submit to the governor and the legislature an annual tobacco and e-cigarette control report which shall describe the extent of the use of tobacco products and e-cigarettes by [minors] those under the age of twenty-one in the state and document the progress state and local governments have made in reducing such use among [minors] those under the age of twenty-one. The annual report shall be submitted to the governor and the legislature on or before March thirty-first of each year beginning on March thirty-first, nineteen hundred ninety-nine. The annual report shall, to the extent practicable, include the following information on a county by county basis:
(a) number of licensed and registered tobacco retailers and vendors and licensed vapor products dealers;
(b) the names and addresses of retailers and vendors who have paid fines, or have been otherwise penalized, due to enforcement actions;
(c) the number of complaints filed against licensed and registered tobacco retailers and licensed vapor products dealers;
(d) the number of fires caused or believed to be caused by tobacco products and e-cigarettes and deaths and injuries resulting therefrom;
(e) the number and type of compliance checks conducted;
(f) a survey of attitudes and behaviors regarding tobacco use among [minors] those under the age of twenty-one. The initial such survey shall be deemed to constitute the baseline survey;
(g) the number of tobacco and e-cigarette users and estimated trends in tobacco and e-cigarette use among [minors] those under the age of twenty-one;
(h) annual tobacco and e-cigarette sales;
(i) tax revenue collected from the sale of tobacco products and e-cigarettes;
(j) the number of licensed tobacco retail outlets and licensed vapor products dealers;
(k) the number of cigarette vending machines;
(l) the number and type of compliance checks;
(m) the names of entities that have paid fines due to enforcement actions; and
(n) the number of complaints filed against licensed tobacco retail outlets and licensed vapor products dealers.
The annual tobacco and e-cigarette control report shall, to the extent practicable, include the following information: (a) tobacco and e-cigarette control efforts sponsored by state government agencies including money spent to educate [minors] those under the age of twenty-one on the hazards of tobacco and e-cigarette use;
S. 3905--A 4
(b) recommendations for improving tobacco and e-cigarette control efforts in the state; and
(c) such other information as the commissioner deems appropriate.
§ 5. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to including elec- tronic cigarettes in the regulation of tobacco products
Purpose
To regulate electronic cigarettes in the same way as tobacco products to prevent access to products by persons younger than 21 years.
Summary of provisions
Section one amends § 1399-hh of the Public Health Law, to include elec- tronic cigarettes as a part of the enforcement provisions of law allow- ing funds for tobacco enforcement programs to also be used for the purposes of regulating electronic cigarettes.
Section two amends § 1399-jj of the Public Health Law, to include the efforts of electronic cigarette use related programs and reports in the state's internal and external outcome evaluation of the use and prevention control program.
Section three amends § 1399-kk of the Public Health Law and requires electronic cigarettes to be added to the annual and interim tobacco control reports submitted to the Governor and Legislature.
Section four provides the effective date.
Justification
Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are electronic devices that deliver vapor that is inhaled by the electronic cigarette smoker. Because electronic cigarettes routinely contain nicotine, flavoring including diacetyl, a chemical linked to a serious lung disease, other cancer-causing chemicals, and heavy metals including nickel, tin, and lead, health experts advise against the use of electronic cigarettes.
New York State law already includes electronic cigarettes in other provisions of law, such as banning the sale to persons younger than twenty-one, and parts of the Clean Indoor Air Act but electronic ciga- rettes are omitted from others. This will ensure that electronic ciga- rettes are included, along with cigarettes and other tobacco products, in several important laws that regulate these products.
Electronic cigarettes will now be included in the state-wide tobacco use prevention and control program which supports community programs to reduce tobacco use, particularly among youth. It would allow the health and environmental impacts of electronic cigarettes to be evaluated by the commissioner, which is especially important since there is little information available on the health and environmental impacts of elec- tronic cigarettes, and it will allow the tax revenue collected from the sale of electronic cigarettes to be included in the annual tobacco enforcement report.
A recent New York Times article described how electronic cigarettes are routinely used at secondary schools and have become extremely popular with youth. Therefore, it is critical that electronic cigarettes are included in these important tobacco control measures.
Legislative history
New Bill
Fiscal implications
None to the state.
Effective date
90 days after enactment.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.