Gov. Tony Evers in his biennial budget is again proposing a measure to boost the minimum age to buy tobacco and nicotine products from 18 to 21 after previous efforts failed to make it to his desk.
But Republicans intend to pull the measure from the budget. The Senate co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee raised doubts about it moving forward as separate legislation, saying stakeholders aren’t pushing it and some view raising the age as unfair.
The state’s minimum age of 18 to buy nicotine, tobacco, or vapor products conflicts with the federal Tobacco 21 requirement implemented in 2019 that bumped the age to 21. Until the state implements the new standard to align with federal law, local police can’t enforce it.
The Assembly passed bills in 2020 and 2022 with bipartisan support to raise the minimum age to 21, but the Senate never took up a vote on the measures. Republicans also rejected the proposal in the guv’s 2021-2023 budget.
The bills were both referred to the Senate Organization Committee, chaired by Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu. The Oostburg Republican did not immediately return a request for comment on why the bills didn’t get a floor vote.
Sen. Howard Marklein, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, co-authored both versions of the bill with Rep. John Spiros.
The Spring Green Republican told WisPolitics.com he didn’t know if he would reintroduce the bill since “stakeholders are not pushing it at this point.” He also shed light on why it didn’t get more support in the past.
“I think some people were concerned that if you’re old enough to die for our country, you should be able to smoke,” Marklein said.
Spiros, R-Marshfield, in an interview with WisPolitics.com signaled his support for including the measure in the budget — with a caveat.
“I’m open to that if the other members are open to that. But I’m not sure if the other members are open to that,” Spiros said.
Spiros noted he had always been told policy doesn’t belong in the budget, and the measure is a policy issue.
Rep. Jill Billings co-sponsored Marklein and Spiros’ most recent bill and has introduced other legislation related to smoking and vaping. She said changing the age requirements to reflect federal law is the right thing to do for public health in the state.
The La Crosse Dem said the issue is that retailers are selling to young Wisconsinites who shouldn’t be smoking — “although I would argue that nobody should be smoking,” she added.
“It’s unfortunate that it just died in the Senate,” Billings said.
Retailers in the state sold tobacco and vape products to people under 21 at a rate of 11.9 percent last year — double the 5.5 percent from before the COVID-19 pandemic. The percentage was the highest in more than a decade in 2021 at 14.1 percent.
If the percentage of Wisconsin retailers found selling tobacco products to those under 21 exceeds 20 percent, the state could lose up to 10 percent of the federal grant money it gets for substance abuse treatment and prevention efforts. The state received $27.4 million from the Substance and Mental Health Services Administration for 2022-2023.
The federal block grant program provides money for a variety of initiatives, and at least 20 percent must go toward primary prevention purposes, such as spreading awareness, identifying those who struggle with substance abuse and providing opportunities for them to take part in healthy activities.
If not in compliance, the state would have 90 days to outline a strategy to achieve a violation rate less than 20 percent. Grant funding could not be used to cover the costs of efforts to lower the rate.
Marklein and JFC Co-chair Rep. Mark Born in statements to WisPolitics.com said Evers’ proposals related to tobacco and vaping would be removed from the budget because they are nonfiscal policy items.
Born said Evers’ proposals should go through the committee process. Without more support for future legislation from Senate lawmakers, that is unlikely to happen. And one of the groups that pushed for it in the past says it’s no longer prioritizing the issue.
American Heart Association Government Relations Director Nicole Hudzinski, who lobbied in favor of Spiros and Marklein’s bill, told WisPolitics.com after trying to advance the bill in the past few sessions, the association will focus on other issues because it has been “extremely hard to move forward.”
“Of course, we were happy to see it included in the governor’s budget and are hopeful that something will pass to make state law mirror federal law on this one, but we are trying to focus on other things this session,” she said.
Hudzinski said there wasn’t enough support from Senate Republicans to pass the legislation because people are considered legal adults at 18.
“I think that we talked to almost everyone, especially throughout the four years of the two sessions, you know,” Hudzinski said. “And there were just, there are some members that are very, you know, viewed this through that philosophical lens about the age of 18, and they weren’t going to budge on it.”
Hudzinski said it’s important to raise the age, considering a rise in youth tobacco use and vaping in recent years. The latest state Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2021 found 15.3 percent of high school students said they currently smoked cigarettes or used electronic vapor products, including more than a quarter of 12th graders. Meanwhile, 32.4 percent said they had used an electronic vapor product — including 46 percent of 12th graders.
The Department of Health Services earlier this month launched an initiative to educate the public about the federal age requirement, including TV and digital ads, social media posts and signs to put up in stores.
The state Department of Justice in December received a $14.7 million settlement with e-cigarette company JUUL Labs as part of a larger $435 million agreement with 32 other states over its marketing policies targeting youth. The multi-state investigation found JUUL had appealed to young people despite federal age limits, including using flavors that attracted underage users.
Then-Department of Health Services Secretary Karen Timberlake said preventing Wisconsin youth from using nicotine products would reduce their chance of addiction and exposure to other health risks.
Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm adolescent brain development, according to the CDC. E-cigarettes can also contain other harmful substances and can lead to cigarette use.
The Milwaukee Common Council just this week approved a $2 million settlement with JUUL to “mitigate the damage” caused by its efforts to target young people in advertising.
“The damage done to public health, in my view, has been significant because of the aggressive marketing to children by the e-cigarette makers,” said Milwaukee Ald. Michael Murphy in a statement.
–WisPolitics.com
