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Long floor fight over tobacco retail rules ends with substitute to ban sales, bill circled for fiscal review
Summary
Debate over House Bill 31, which would restrict tobacco retail displays and vending, spurred substitutes including a move to prohibit tobacco sales. The House adopted a substitute amendment declaring sale of tobacco products in Utah prohibited (45–11) and then circled the bill to obtain a fiscal note and continue deliberations.
Salt Lake City — A lengthy and at times emotional debate over tobacco policy gripped the Utah House on Feb. 19 as members considered House Bill 31, a proposal to limit display and vending access to tobacco products.
Representative Saunders, the bill sponsor, opened by describing the measure’s consumer-protection and youth-access provisions, saying the bill would require retailers to keep tobacco products out of casual reach or sell them only via assisted, face-to-face transactions and would ban vending-machine sales accessible to those under 18. “This bill would also make it illegal to sell these products from…
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