“Florida House and Senate leaders agree that the state needs to rein in teenagers’ skyrocketing use of electronic cigarettes, but the two chambers have adopted different approaches on the issue and, with time running down on the legislative session, an ideological standoff could doom efforts to address it. The House plan (HB 7089) would regulate vape shops, the retail establishments that sell e-cigarettes and other vaping products. Under the bill, the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees sales of tobacco, would permit and regulate vape shops by creating a new category of “nicotine products” under state law. But the proposal would not do two things the Senate is seeking: identify e-cigarettes and vaping products as “tobacco products” and raise the age to purchase any tobacco products — including e-cigarettes — from 18 to 21. Under the Senate plan, retailers who sell vape products would be regulated like other establishments that sell tobacco products and have to pay the same $50 permit fee to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation as retailers that sell cigarettes and other tobacco products. Senate President Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who has made a crackdown on youth vaping one of his legislative priorities, has said he does not support creating a separate regulatory structure for vape shops. House Speaker José Oliva, meanwhile, is balking at raising the age to purchase cigarettes and vaping products, despite the federal law.”
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Florida House, Senate At Odds On Vaping Solutions
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