What's happening
This bill requires that liquid nicotine and electronic cigarettes be sold only in locations restricted to people age 21 or older.
Why it matters
Shifts access to liquid nicotine and e-cigarettes away from mixed-age retail settings. , like convenience stores and gas stations, making it harder for underage individuals to encounter or purchase these products even if they attempt to use fake IDs or rely on lax enforcement.
Creates a stronger physical and social barrier between youth and vaping products. , potentially reducing impulse buys or peer-driven experimentation by requiring adults-only entry to any retail environment selling these items.
May impact small businesses and retailers by limiting where these products can be sold. , possibly pushing sales toward specialty vape shops or tobacco stores that can meet the age-restriction requirement, while others may lose revenue or be forced to stop selling these items.
Signals a public health priority to treat vaping products more like alcohol or cannabis in terms of retail access. , which could have downstream effects on youth vaping rates, retailer compliance enforcement, and the visibility of these products in everyday retail life.
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Who cares
Convenience stores and other retailers admitting customers under 21
The bill would bar them from selling, offering or displaying liquid nicotine or electronic cigarettes unless they restrict admission to people 21 or older.
Vape shops
Shops selling liquid nicotine or electronic cigarettes would have to limit entry to people 21 or older, rather than rely on behind-the-counter storage or locked containers.
Customers under 21
They would be barred from entering businesses that sell or offer liquid nicotine or electronic cigarettes.
Retailers selling liquid nicotine or electronic cigarettes
They would have 180 days after the bill becomes law to comply with the admission restriction.
Headline styles
Restrict Vape Sales to Adults
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to health
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
8162
IN SENATE
April 13, 2020
Introduced by Sen. KENNEDY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring electronic cigarettes and e-liquid products to be sold in separate specific locations where only persons of at least twenty-one years of age are allowed to enter
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 7 of section 1399-cc of the public health law, as amended by chapter 100 of the laws of 2019, is amended and a new subdivision 8 is added to read as follows:
7. No person operating a place of business wherein tobacco products, herbal cigarettes, [liquid nicotine,] or shisha [or electronic cigarettes] are sold or offered for sale shall sell, permit to be sold, offer for sale or display for sale any tobacco product, herbal cigarettes, [liquid nicotine,] or shisha [or electronic cigarettes in any manner], unless such products and cigarettes are stored for sale (a) behind a counter in an area accessible only to the personnel of such business, or (b) in a locked container; provided, however, such restriction shall not apply to tobacco businesses, as defined in subdivision eight of section thirteen hundred ninety-nine-aa of this article, and to places to which admission is restricted to persons twenty-one years of age or older.
8. No person operating a place of business wherein liquid nicotine or electronic cigarettes are sold or offered for sale shall sell, permit to be sold, offer for sale or display for sale any liquid nicotine or electronic cigarettes unless such place of business is a place to which admission is restricted to persons twenty-one years of age or older.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14824-01-0
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 requiring elec- tronic cigarettes and e-liquid products to be sold in separate specific locations where only persons of at least twenty-one years of age are allowed to enter
Purpose
This legislation would require that liquid nicotine and electronic ciga- rettes only be sold, displayed, or offered in speciality stores where admission is restricted to 21 years of age or older
Summary of specific provisions
Section one adds a new section to the public health law to prohibit a person operating a place of business where liquid nicotine or electronic cigarettes are sold or offered for sale to sell, permit to be sold, offer for sale or display for sale any liquid nicotine or electronic cigarettes unless the admission to said place of business is restricted to individuals twenty-one years of age or older.
Section two establishes the effective date.
Justification
According to the Center for Disease Control, if cigarette smoking continues at the current rate among youth in this country, 5.6 million of today's Americans younger than 18 will die early from a smoking-re- lated illness. That's about 1 of every 13 Americans aged 17 years or younger who are alive today
This legislation will prohibit a place of business from selling, displaying, or offering liquid nicotine or electronic cigarettes unless admission to the place of business is restricted to individuals twenty- one years of age or older. By requiring electronic cigarettes and liquid nicotine to be sold in specialty stores, where an individual must be 21 years of age enter, minors will have significantly less access to these products.
Legislative history
New legislation
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.