Despite criticism, SC could block local bans on vape, e-cigarette flavors

The South Carolina House Judiciary Committee passed a bill Tuesday that would block city or county governments from regulating the sale of tobacco products, including vapes or electronic cigarettes.

The bill would ban local governments from regulating cigarette, vape or e-cigarette flavors and ingredients. It would also block them from requiring local licenses to sell tobacco products.

The bill, which has been criticized by public health groups for preempting local rule, will now head to the House floor.

Lawmakers took up the bill in an effort to standardize the practices of regulating tobacco products and ensure that only state and federal governments can do so, said S.C. Rep. Micah Caskey, R-Lexington, who spoke in favor of the bill. The bill would prevent a patchwork of differing regulations from popping up, making it easier on businesses who want to operate in the state, he added.

The bill would also stop local governments from enacting bills that could cut into the state’s chunk of revenue it receives from tobacco sales, Caskey said, adding that the state brought in more than $160 million from the sale of tobacco products in the last year.

The bills comes as rates of youth smoking skyrocket and tobacco companies are under fire for using fruity flavors in e-cigarettes that critics say are an attempt to appeal to children. E-cigarettes are devices that heat liquids with nicotine to produce a vapor that the user inhales.

Some lawmakers voiced concerns that the bill would take away power from local governments to regulate tobacco to protect the health of their local residents. Currently, only one city, Myrtle Beach, has passed a local ordinance regulating tobacco locally.

“I hate chipping away at home rule,” S.C. Rep. John King, D-York, said.

State and national public health advocates share that concern.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, a group of public health advocates — including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the South Carolina Cancer Alliance and the S.C. Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics — sent a letter to the General Assembly in opposition to the bill.

In the letter, the groups said the bill “would prevent local communities from protecting our children from tobacco companies.”

The groups said that the nationwide rate of youth smoking or partaking in tobacco products are at their highest levels in 20 years, adding that the 2019 S.C. Youth Tobacco Survey showed that about 30% of high school students in the state reported using tobacco products.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5.6 million Americans currently under 18, or about 1 in 13 youth, will die early from smoking-related illnesses, if the rate of smoking among young people continues at current rates.

The groups said said companies are using flavors to target children, an idea that has been incredibly pervasive. In 2020, about 85% of high school students who used tobacco products reported using a flavored tobacco product, according to the CDC.

In January 2020, the Trump administration moved to ban most flavored e-cigarette cartridges, like those produced by Juul, from the market. Under the ban, companies were only allowed to sell menthol or tobacco flavored products.

However, the ban did not extend to larger e-cigarettes with refillable tanks that users can fill with their choice of flavored liquid, which is typically sold separately.

The ban had a direct economic impact on South Carolina, where a Juul plant in Lexington County was closed after just a year of operation due to “rapid changes in the landscape of the vapor category,” a Juul representative told The State in November. The factory was expected to bring 500 jobs to the area and to be a $125 billion investment.

Lawmakers also argued Tuesday over whether to allow Myrtle Beach’s existing restrictions on the sale of tobacco products — rules the city put in place to cut down on “head shops” which specialize in tobacco and marijuana memorabilia —

to be grandfathered into the bill.

In 2018, Myrtle Beach passed an ordinance banning tobacco and CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabis derivative, goods from being sold on Ocean Boulevard. Since then, local businesses have been fighting the rule in court.

Under the proposed amendment, which passed Tuesday, Myrtle Beach would be allowed to keep their ordinance and change it in the future if it, for example, was struck down by the court.

Rep. Russell Fry, R-Horry, argued that Myrtle Beach should be held to the new law if it passes.

“I think it needs to be a statewide policy,” Fry said.

Fry’s concerns were echoed by Democrats King and Rep. Seth Rose, D-Richland.

“I have concerns that we’re allowing one area to do this, but not others,” Rose said. “If we’re going to standardize it, standardize it.”