State legislators are again considering bills to restrict the areas where tobacco or e-cigarettes can be sold, and to make smoking more expensive by increasing the state’s tobacco tax.
Senate Bill 1016, introduced by Sen. Karl Rhoads, would make it illegal to sell tobacco or an electronic smoking device within 750 feet of preschools, schools or public playgrounds. It is a revival of a Senate bill that failed last year, which Rhoads also introduced.
Violators would be fined $500 for their first offense and between $500 and $2,000 for subsequent offenses.
In the House, Health Committee Chairman John Mizuno introduced House Bill 387 as an “omnibus” bill that includes a proposed cigarette tax increase.
Hawaii has the fifth-highest cigarette tax in the country, taxing retailers 16 cents for every cigarette, or $3.20 per pack. New York has the highest cigarette tax at $4.35 per pack.
Mizuno has not yet said how much he hopes to increase Hawaii’s tax. Any tax hike would be met with resistance, Mizuno said, but he hopes it will deter people from using tobacco.
“The reason why I don’t feel it’s wrong to raise the tax is, we can actually mandate better behavior — we can reduce adverse behavior — by taxing,” said Mizuno (D, Kamehameha Heights-Kalihi Valley).
GET INVOLVED
>> What: Public hearing on SB 1016 and SB 1009
>> When: 9 a.m. today
>> Where: Room 229 of the state Capitol
The last time Hawaii increased the state cigarette tax was in 2011. The state has increased its cigarette tax 10 times since 1998, when the tax was 5 cents per cigarette.
Rhoads has also introduced Senate Bill 1009, which would ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol-flavored cigarettes.
According to the bill, there are over 15,000 e-cigarette flavors, which makes those products more attractive to children. Studies suggest there is a positive correlation between e-cigarette use and smoking cigarettes.
The Legislature last attempted to ban menthol and other flavored tobacco in 2014, but that bill died in the state House.
Trish La Chica, policy and advocacy director for Hawaii Public Health Institute, said vaping products market to children by using cartoon characters in advertising and selling flavored tobacco products.
“There’s an actual picture of a Pokemon holding a vaping product,” she said. “This isn’t being marketed to adults.”
Statistics from the Truth Initiative showed that 25 percent of high school students in Hawaii used e-cigarettes once a day in 2017, which was nearly double the national average.
Paul Azuma, manager of Vape Kings, a vape shop in the McCully-Moiliili area, said it is doing its part to ensure that minors do not have access to their products.
“Even if you were to buy a battery from us … we still age-restrict that,” he said.
Azuma said the bills do not address the underlying problems of tobacco use in Hawaii because minors can get their hands on electronic smoking devices, e-liquid and other tobacco products from out-of-state online stores. Those stores might not know that Hawaii law prohibits the sale of tobacco products to anyone under age 21.
Vape Kings does not have an online store.
Vape Kings has 180 photos on its Instagram page of customers holding signs that read, “I’m over 21. I have the right to choose my flavors,” in protest of the flavor ban.
Azuma believes vaping has provided people with a safer alternative to cigarettes and can even help wean people off of tobacco.
Rhoads (D, Downtown-Nuuanu-Liliha) said he does not see any reason for having cigarettes on the market.
“If cigarettes came out of the market today, there’s no way the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) would let them into the market,” he said. “They kill people … and there’s no redeeming quality.”
