What's happening
This bill exempts tobacco products made for research purposes from being classified or taxed as regular cigarettes or tobacco products.
Why it matters
Supports scientific and medical research. by ensuring that tobacco products manufactured specifically for accredited institutions (like universities, hospitals, and laboratories) can be used for research without being subject to the same restrictions or taxes as consumer tobacco products.
Prevents misuse. by requiring research tobacco products to be clearly marked and prohibiting their distribution or sale to consumers, limiting use strictly to research and experimental purposes.
Could encourage innovation. in understanding tobacco-related health impacts, cessation tools, or harm reduction strategies, as research entities may have easier access to necessary materials without regulatory or financial barriers.
Clarifies legal definitions. in state tax law, reducing ambiguity for manufacturers and research institutions about what constitutes a taxable tobacco product versus a research-only product.
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Who cares
Accredited colleges and universities
The bill would exclude qualifying tobacco products made specifically for them and held for transfer to research institutions from the Tax Law’s definitions of cigarettes and tobacco products.
Tobacco manufacturers
Products made for qualifying research use would need markings identifying that use and restricting consumer sales or distribution to research purposes.
Laboratories, hospitals and medical centers
They could receive qualifying products from colleges or universities for health, scientific or other research or experimental purposes.
State tax administrators
The bill would create a research-product exclusion from the cigarette and tobacco product definitions they administer.
Headline styles
Exclude Research Tobacco Products
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Approval memo.75
- Signed chap.728
- Delivered to governor
- Returned to senate
- Passed assembly
- Ordered to third reading cal.438
- Substituted for A7351
- Referred to ways and means
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 62–0
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
Show 3 earlier actions
- 1st report cal.867
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to budget and revenue
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Define Research Tobacco Products
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Richard Gottfried
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5300
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 24, 2019
Introduced by Sen. RIVERA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Budget and Revenue
AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to research tobacco products
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 470 of the tax law, subdivision 1 as amended by section 14 and subdivision 2 as amended by section 15 of part D of chapter 134 of the laws of 2010, are amended and a new subdivision 20 is added to read as follows:
1. "Cigarette." Any roll for smoking made wholly or in part of tobacco or of any other substance, irrespective of size or shape and whether or not such tobacco or substance is flavored, adulterated or mixed with any other ingredient, the wrapper or cover of which is made of paper or any other substance or material but is not made in whole or in part of tobacco. "Cigarette" shall not include a research tobacco product.
2. "Tobacco products." Any cigar, including a little cigar, or tobacco, other than cigarettes, intended for consumption by smoking, chewing, or as snuff. "Tobacco products" shall not include research tobacco products.
20. "Research tobacco product." Anything that would otherwise be defined as a tobacco product or cigarette shall not be defined as a tobacco product or cigarette if it is made by a manufacturer specifically for an accredited college or university, to be held by the college or university until sale or transfer to a laboratory, hospital, medical center, institute, college or university, or other institution for health, scientific, or other research or experimental purposes. A research tobacco product shall carry a marking designating it as such and indicating it shall only be used for health, scientific, or other research or experimental purposes and not be offered for sale, sold, or distributed to consumers except as part of the health, scientific, or other research or experimental purpose.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11217-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the tax law, in relation to research tobacco products
Purpose
Exempts medical research tobacco products from tax and regulatory requirements intended for commercial tobacco products.
Summary of specific provisions
Section one exempts medical research tobacco products from the defi- nitions of "cigarette" and "tobacco product" in the Tax Law and defines "research tobacco products."
Section two states the effective date.
Justification
Research tobacco is tobacco used only for medical research purposes and shipped to medical researchers from out of state. A recent proposal by the Department of Tax and Finance would subject research tobacco to similar taxation requirements as commercial tobacco. This would effec- tively cut off supply to New York's research institutions.
The Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center (KTRDC) supplies tobacco to NY institutions to study chronic obstructive pulmonary disor- der. KTRDC's product is sent directly to New York research institutions without risk of diversion or sale on the commercial market, nor does this research involve human consumption of tobacco. For these reasons, the Department has historically exempted KTRDC from cigarette tax stamp- ing requirements under statutory and regulatory authority (Tax Law section 471-A "Use tax on cigarettes;" and 20 NYCRR section 76.1 "Ciga- rette tax" / "Exemption from tax.")
In 2018, however, the Department informed research institutions that under a new interpretation of the law and regulations, KTRDC's products would no longer be exempt from stamping requirements and that KTRDC would have to become a certified manufacturer under the Master Settle- ment Agreement. This change in longstanding interpretation did not follow any statutory or regulatory change.
KTRDC is unable to become a certified manufacturer in New York without jeopardizing its position nationally. The company sells to dozens of states who have never treated it as a commercial tobacco company, nor is it subject to such requirements in its home state. Rather than risk accepting a precedent for regulators nationally, KTRDC may simply quit the New York market - and medical researchers have been unable to iden- tify a comparable supplier. Even if an alternative was found, changing suppliers mid-study would throw the validity of current research into doubt.
The Department's longtime exemption of research tobacco from certain regulatory requirements has facilitated medical research without any diversion or other problems. This reinterpretation would effectively block future research at New York institutions, and potentially invali- date current studies. In response, this legislation defines "research tobacco" so to limit it clearly to tobacco held by certain institutions, for purposes of tobacco-related health research, and that shall not be offered to consumers; and carves out such "research tobacco" from the definition of "cigarettes" upon which taxes are imposed.
Prior legislative history
2019: New bill
Fiscal implications
None to the State, as research tobacco has not been previously taxed.
Effective date
Immediate
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.