The City Council’s Bill 46 has a worthy intent: keeping flavored tobacco products off retail shelves on Oahu, thereby making these addictive products inaccessible to Hawaii youths. The bill has passed its third Council reading and is now on Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s desk. On its way to passage, however, Bill 46 has accumulated too much political baggage — and should be vetoed.

The bill is written to trigger a ban on flavored tobacco products if state law changes to allow it. If and when that happens, the bill would make it illegal for an Oahu retailer to sell or stock flavored tobacco products, additionally prohibiting the display or advertising of flavored tobacco products. It would also make the mislabeling of e-liquids as nicotine-free a violation of city regulations.

However, Bill 46 has a gaping fatal flaw: It has no effect under current state law, which prohibits Hawaii’s county governments from regulating or restricting sales or use of tobacco and nicotine products.

Equally problematic, the bill contains amendments to exempt hookah tobacco, loose-leaf tobacco and premium cigars from prohibition. This sets up a potential conflict with statewide regulatory categories for tobacco projects, complicating prospects for law enforcement. That could bolster flavored tobacco vendors’ case for holding off on tighter regulations.

On July 1, a new state law took effect making it illegal to ship any tobacco products, including electronic smoking devices and e-liquids, into the islands to any people and businesses without a proper license. Act 62 also increased the state’s general excise tax (GET) to 70% of the wholesale price of any electronic smoking device or e-liquid sold beginning Jan. 1, and increases the GET on other tobacco products.

Act 62 is intended to keep tobacco out of youths’ hands, as well — and includes cigars within regulated categories. In effect, the state law prevents individuals from buying tobacco products of all kinds online, from vapes to cigars, and does not differentiate between “premium” and other types of cigars. In signing it, Gov. Josh Green called it a “monumental first step in protecting our keiki from Big Tobacco.”

While the City Council’s Bill 46 exempts only “premium cigars,” that sets up a potential conflict with state law that could throw both city and state tobacco-prevention efforts in doubt. It’s simply unwise to create that prospect.

As a result of the amendments, the City Council bill is opposed by the state’s Department of Health (DOH), and that, too, should be a red flag for Blangiardi.

As the DOH states, in opposition testimony, “In 2022, cigars were the second most commonly used tobacco product among high school and middle school youth in the United States (next to e-cigarettes). The availability of cigars in a variety of flavors that are banned in cigarettes, and the fact that they are often sold as a single stick or in small quantities makes them alluring to price-sensitive youth.

“Shisha tobacco products also pose risks to health, as in a typical one-hour hookah session, users may inhale 100 to 200 times the amount of smoke compared to a regular combustible cigarette.”

Objections also come from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS-CAN), which recommends county and state definitions of “tobacco products” align to avoid confusion. Conflicts “may have unintended consequences and affect current, comprehensive tobacco regulations,” ACS-CAN testified. “Please reconsider exempting any tobacco products, which is a tobacco industry tactic to erode current tobacco policies in the state.”

To protect Hawaii youths from a future cut short by tobacco use and resulting health effects, the state must act more broadly, and soon, to keep tobacco products out of youths’ hands — and lungs and bloodstreams.

Bill 46 could slow that momentum, rather than speed it — and that would be wrong.