Public‑health Groups Push Senate to Restore Tobacco‑Prevention Funding, Vape Retailer Registry

Leah Baylor, a health educator at Clark County Combined Health District, told the committee that school confiscations and compliance checks show high youth access to vapor products. She described a six-to-eight month school confiscation of “approximately about 30 pounds of confiscated vape products” and said local checks initially found a 35% failure rate for underage sales that fell to 8% after retailer licensing and fines.

Public-health organizations asked the Senate to restore funding to the Tobacco Use Prevention Fund and to reinsert a vapor retailer registry provision into HB96. Dustin Hoelfinger of the American Heart Association said the registry and licensing would help enforce existing public-nuisance rules and direct application fees into the Tobacco Use Prevention Fund; he also noted the fund has been reduced in recent years and urged restoring the governor’s $10,000,000-per-year proposal if possible.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and the American Lung Association urged a cigarette tax increase (witnesses cited $1.50 per pack and a parallel tax on other tobacco products equal to 42% of wholesale price) and additional annual funding for prevention programs — proposals the ACS CAN said would prevent thousands of kids from becoming adult smokers and generate state revenue while reducing health-care costs.

Witnesses described the local prevention benefits of funding and regulatory tools: licensing reduced retailer sales to minors in Clark County, and dedicated prevention dollars support education, youth outreach and cessation services. No committee action was taken at the hearing; witnesses asked senators to restore the vapor-registry language and to consider restoring higher prevention funding or the proposed tobacco tax increase in the final HB96 package.