Key Points:

• Bipartisan coalition seeks new regulations over vape industry

• Some Democrats says the bill doesn’t go far enough

• HB 4001 awaits final House approval before going to governor

Arizona lawmakers are taking their “first step” to regulate vapes and e-cigarettes — with advocates saying it’s long overdue.

On May 26, the Arizona Senate passed House Bill 4001, a measure to enact new regulations for alternative nicotine products including vapes. It passed with overwhelming support from both parties, 24-2, despite only a handful of House Democrats voting with Republicans to pass an earlier version of the bill in March.

Sens. Mitzi Epstein, D-Tempe, and Theresa Hatathlie, D-Tuba City, held the only two Senate votes opposing the current measure. Epstein said that she didn’t think the bill went far enough.

“This bill is allowing big tobacco to try to regulate themselves,” Epstein said. “It is not nearly the solution that we need.”

HB 4001 would also give the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control the enforcement responsibilities to address any violations that occur while also requiring the department to inspect distributor and manufacturing facilities. 

Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, said the bill has been significantly workshopped by lawmakers since it originally passed the House, adding a near 40-page amendment that further clarified the liquor department’s role and regulations for distributors and manufacturers. That amendment, according to lawmakers, was the key to the supermajority vote in the Senate. 

The bill also establishes a tiered penalty system for any enterprise that sells an alternative nicotine product to anyone under 21, starting with a fine of at least $500 and a court-approved tobacco-retailer educational course and up to a $10,000 fine and a one-year license suspension after a fourth subsequent violation. 

Rep. Cesar Aguilar, D-Phoenix, said in March that he didn’t think the $10,000 fine was sufficient and thought companies might just see it as “the cost of doing business.”

But Republican and Democratic lawmakers have grown frustrated over the lack of language in statute defining alternative nicotine products as vapes.

“It is a step forward in the right direction,” said Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan, D-Tucson. “I will continue to watch to make sure that we are able to include further steps to make sure that it is an effective measure.”

Rep. Jeff Weninger, R-Chandler, said on the House floor that he believes Arizona is about a decade late in addressing regulations for alternative nicotine products.

“The status quo is kids are in the high school bathrooms vaping and smoking,” Weninger said. 

Epstein said she’d like to see alternative nicotine products receive the same regulation as tobacco products, arguing for a retail license that covers all nicotine products and alternative nicotine products. One of her main concerns with the bill doesn’t state what other substances may or may not be put into an alternative nicotine product.

“This says vape is special. It’s different, and it’s not,” Epstein said.

Some Democrats have also advocated for a vape tax intended to recover lost revenue for First Things First, an early childhood education program, established by voters in 2006. That program is currently funded by an 80-cent-per-pack tax on tobacco products approved under Proposition 203.

But when voters approved that tax in 2006 they didn’t anticipate the rise of alternative nicotine products, and vapes currently do not contribute to the funding of First Things First. The program got about $165 million annually from tobacco tax revenue, but that number has since lowered to around $90 million.

Rebecca Gau, director of the childhood education advocacy organization Stand for Children, said the revenue loss of First Things First since 2006 is significant and the organization has supported restoring its revenue to something that voters had intended two decades ago. 

“The nicotine delivery system is no longer tobacco. It’s the vape product, and with the legalization of marijuana, there’s a whole other product that people are substituting,” Gau said. 

Passing a new tax under a Republican-controlled House and Senate is a difficult task. Weninger said earlier in the legislative session that a tax would be a “poison pill” at the Legislature that would lead to the bill not being considered. 

The measure must now return to the House for final approval from the chamber before going to Gov. Katie Hobbs to sign or veto.