Several Tobacco Bills to be Heard this Legislative Session
ST. PAUL -- There is a push at the State Capitol again this year to raise the state's tobacco buying age to 21. CentraCare spokeswoman Jodi Gertken says even though the federal government raised the buying age to 21 in December, there is still a lot of confusion.
So the federal government did pass a Tobacco 21 bill in December, which immediately became effective and that set off a lot of chaos locally because we initially thought it would be a September implementation date, then the FDA announced it would be immediate, then who was going to be in charge of enforcing it...
Gertken says 64 Minnesota communities have already passed a Tobacco 21 ordinance. The bill got a hearing in a Senate committee Wednesday.
Director of Marketing at Clearway Minnesota Mike Sheldon says another bill would limit flavored tobacco products.
There's currently a bill going through some committees that would prohibit and limit where flavored tobacco could be sold, and again we're talking about all different types of tobacco so including e-cigarettes and vaping products.
Sheldon says other bills address funding and smoking in your car.
One of them would dedicate some additional funding to tobacco prevention and control in Minnesota, and there's one other one that would actually prohibit smoking in cars with kids.
The bill that prohibits smoking in a vehicle when kids under 18 are inside also got a House hearing Wednesday.