Senate committee rejects bill to create Arkansas vapor-product registry after hours of testimony

Little Rock — The Senate City, County & Local Affairs Committee voted against Senate Bill 252 on Oct. 12, 2025, after more than three hours of testimony from vape-shop owners, retail representatives, public-health advocates and tobacco-control officials. The bill would have created a state registry for vapor products that mirrors the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) directory.

Sponsor Sen. Jonathan Dismain, who presented the bill, said the registry was intended to give Arkansas Tobacco Control a workable list of products so inspectors could tell at a glance whether an item on a store shelf had filed the federal premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) or otherwise was eligible for sale. "What we're doing with this bill is creating a registry for vapor products in Arkansas that is going to mirror the FDA directory today," Dismain said during his presentation.

The bill prompted sharply divided testimony. Supporters, including Steve Good, who identified himself as representing Arkansas retailers, argued a registry would improve enforcement. "The way that we can add to that enforcement is through a registry," Good said, saying tobacco-control agents otherwise face shelves of products with no easy way to check legality.

Opponents — largely vape-shop owners and managers — said the bill would harm small businesses and would not solve the problem of unregulated disposable products imported from overseas. Scout Stubbs, who said she and her husband own four local vape shops and manufacture e-liquid in Arkansas, told senators: "I am here today to oppose SB252, a vape registry bill, which would devastate our industry, put hundreds of jobs at risk, and severely limit the vaping options available to adults in Arkansas." Stubbs and several other business witnesses described the FDA PMTA process as prohibitively expensive and said a registry tied to that process would leave most small manufacturers unable to sell their existing products.

Multiple witnesses called attention to single-use disposable devices often described as "Chinese disposables." Several speakers said those products are the core safety concern but that SB252 would mainly require licensing and fees for legitimate domestic retailers and brands. Robert Eaton, a district manager for Abbey Road, said a registry would be easy for bad actors to exploit and would not stop counterfeit or illegal vapes from circulating. "A registry does not mean the products are safe. It only means that they were submitting paperwork," Eaton said.

Witnesses also gave senators specific figures and complaints. Testimony included: an estimate that a first-year fiscal impact for implementing a directory would be roughly $200,000–$280,000; a retail registration fee described by multiple witnesses as $1,000 for initial listing and $500 annually; and claims from industry witnesses that the FDA process has left only a handful of products approved, which they said would eliminate most consumer options if the registry limited sales to FDA-listed items. One witness described that change as removing roughly "97% of vapor products in Arkansas." Those figures were offered during oral testimony and attributed to the speakers making them.

The committee adopted a technical amendment offered by the sponsor to correct punctuation and wording in the bill. After debate, a motion to "do pass as amended" was brought to a vote; the motion failed on a roll call. The chair announced, "Bill fails." The transcript records the failure but does not provide a complete, unambiguous final tally in the portions provided.

Tobacco-control officials who testified said the registry would give their agents a practical enforcement tool for distinguishing items that had started the federal approval process from items that had not. Gary Profitt, chair of the Arkansas Tobacco Control Board, said the board supports a federal reference point: "We would defer to the federal registry. That would give us a path, to for knowing what are in those products," he said.

Supporters and opponents differed sharply on the registry's likely market effects. Several retailers and vape-shop owners said the bill would concentrate market power among large tobacco companies that have secured federal approvals, while public-health advocates said a registry could help limit unregulated products and prevent youth exposure. Camilla Eshoo of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families testified that a registry should be part of attention to how products are marketed to minors.

With the committee vote failing, SB252 will not move forward from this committee. The record shows vigorous disagreement about enforcement priorities and how best to address Chinese disposable devices, with small-business owners warning of economic harm and tobacco-control officials arguing for an enforcement mechanism to track product filings.

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Votes at a glance: The committee adopted a technical amendment to the bill before voting on a motion to "do pass as amended." The motion failed on a roll call; the transcript records the announcement "Bill fails." Specific roll-call tallies were not provided in full in the transcript excerpt.