“In what opponents say is part of a larger push this session to pass laws favorable to the tobacco industry, legislators discussed a bill proposal Wednesday that would prevent local governments from regulating nicotine products ingested through devices like electronic cigarettes and vape pens. The proposal, HB 137, would prohibit local governments and the state Department of Public Health and Human Services from regulating “alternative nicotine products or vapor products” used in devices like e-cigarettes. That prohibition would prevent local governments or state health officials from regulating the sale, manufacture, flavoring, marketing, product display, public exposure to and access to those products. It would also define the nicotine products as separate from tobacco products, though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration classifies the devices used to ingest the nicotine solutions as tobacco products. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ron Marshall, R-Hamilton, owns a vaping retail chain with his wife, Deanna Marshall. He has also sponsored a bill, HB 106, to prohibit expansion of the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act.”
ARTICLE LINK: Lawmakers debate local nicotine-product prohibitions
Store
