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HAWAI’I – [Concluded] Stop a Vapor Tax!
- February 7, 2022
current status
Bill
Introduced
Passed
Senate
Passed
House
Signed by
Governor
SB621
02/08/22 – Bill deleted from agenda. No additional information is available at this time
02/08/22 – The committee(s) on HTH deleted the measure from the public hearing scheduled on 02-09-22 1:35PM; Via Videoconference.
02/04/22 – Senate Committee on Health (HTH) has scheduled a public hearing on 02-09-22 1:35PM; Via Videoconference.
SB2278
02/10/22 – The committee(s) on HTH recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in HTH were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Keohokalole, Baker, Moriwaki, San Buenaventura, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.
02/04/22 – Senate Committees on HTH and Commerce and Consumer Protection (CPN) have scheduled a public hearing on 02-10-22 9:30AM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.
Nearly identical bills, SB 621 and SB 2278, would subject vapor products to the state’s existing 70% wholesale tax on tobacco products (that aren’t cigarettes) and prohibit direct-to-consumer shipping.
Both of these bills are scheduled for public hearings this week.
SB 621
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
[Deleted from Agenda, 02/08]
Senate Health Committee (HTH)
HTHcommittee@capitol.hawaii.gov
SB 2278
Thursday, February 10, 2022
9:30AM
[Passed with amendments]Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection (CPN)
CPNcommittee@capitol.hawaii.gov
Conference Room 229 & Videoconference
Hawai’i residents are encouraged to make contact with committee members and urge them to oppose these bills.
- State that you are opposed to SB 621 & SB 2278 and any legislation that would make safer alternatives to smoking less affordable.
- Share your experience with switching to vapor products. If affordability compared to continuing to smoke was a motivating factor for trying vaping or other smoke-free products, be sure to include that in your comments. Conversely, if the already high initial cost of these products delayed your first purchase, highlight this instead. Be sure to include any changes in your health that you’ve experienced as a result of switching to safer nicotine or tobacco products.
- Taxes on traditional cigarettes are intended to discourage use. But, e-cigarettes and other smoke-free tobacco products are estimated to be 98 – 99% less harmful than smoking, discouraging use is counter to the goals of reducing smoking rates.
- Research shows that increasing taxes on smoke-free alternatives (like vaping) reduces quit attempts and quitting. Economists at the University of Georgia recently published an analysis of a proposed federal tax on vaping and concluded that “the unintended effects of ENDS taxation may considerably undercut or even outweigh any public health gains.”
- Other governments are taking exactly the opposite approach. Public Health England (the government public health agency) explicitly endorses a policy of encouraging people who smoke to switch to e-cigarettes and vapor products.
- Sin taxes are regressive. People who smoke and those who switch to vaping and other smoke-free alternatives are disproportionately poor and low income people. Sin taxes place unnecessary burdens on an already financially challenged group. To make matters worse, people in the low-income bracket are less likely to be insured and lack access to health care providers. The affordable resources available to these people have low success rates.
- Sin taxes on safer nicotine products sends a confusing and inaccurate message to would-be adopters that combustible and smoke-free products present similar risks. The result of this message is that more people, those who otherwise would have switched to a smoke-free product, will be encouraged to continue smoking.
SB 621 - NOTICE OF HEARING 02/09/22
Agenda & Details for Testifying
SB 2278 - NOTICE OF HEARING 02/10/22
Agenda & Details for Testifying
Take Action Now!
How to Take Action:
- Comment directly on the bills via bill pages.
- If you don’t already have one, set up a free account with the legislature’s website by clicking on “Register” at the top of a bill page.
- Click the “Submit Testimony” button at the top of each bill page. You will be taken to an instructions/look-up page. Click “continue” next to the bill number and fill out the submission form. You can write your comments in the field provided or upload pre-written testimony. (Talking points are provided below if you need some ideas.)
- Written testimony is due 24 hours prior to the hearings.
- Sign up to speak (requires submission of written testimony) following the same instructions above for submitting testimony.