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Youth Congress committee adopts bill to curb student access to vaporizers
Summary
The joint committees adopted YCB 20-02 to reduce access to vaporizers and vaporizable products among school-aged children; sponsors and student committee members urged the measure as a public-health protection and the roll-call vote was 5-0 in favor.
The joint committees on Education and on Health and Welfare adopted Youth Congress Bill 20-02 to reduce access to and possession of vaporizers and vaporizable products by school-aged children. The committee approved the measure by a roll-call vote of five in favor and none opposed.
Senator Solless, the bill’s primary mover, told the committee the legislation is intended to protect minors from nicotine addiction and to give schools, parents and law-enforcement clearer tools to keep vaping products out of young people’s hands. "Young people are especially vulnerable to nicotine addiction and reducing access helps prevent long-term health risk," Solless said.
A committee member who identified attendance at a vaping-prevention event described seeing students as young as second or third grade with vaporizers and urged passage. The member said placing clearer limits on access and possession would help avoid unknown long-term harms and cited school, parent and enforcement roles in prevention.
The clerk recorded all five members voting yes. The committee did not provide detailed enforcement language or penalties in the hearing; members said staff and sponsors will finalize implementation language for the Youth Congress session.
Next steps: With committee approval, sponsors said they plan to bring the bill to a Youth Congress session for final consideration; no enforcement timeline or fiscal estimate was provided during the committee hearing.
