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Like California, New York is considered a bellwether state. What happens there in new trends often trickles down to other states, regardless of whether it is good or bad. As it turns out, electronic cigarette and vapor industry regulation is no different. Although many states and cities have instituted their own bans and regulations already, there are thirteen bills in New York that could set the state for state-level regulation of the industry around the nation.

Here’s a list of the bills being proposed there:

AB635 aims to prohibit sales of any quantity of e-liquid used to refill e-cigs (full text here).

AB296 would label e-cigarette cartridges as “tobacco” for the purpose of taxation (full text here).

SB702 is designed to compliment and reinforce AB 296 (full text here).

SB7202 labels anything containing tobacco or nicotine as a “tobacco product” for the purpose of taxation unless approved by the FDA as smoking cessation product (full text here).

A1496 prohibits use of vaporization products wherever smoking is prohibited, increases purchasing age of tobacco and electronic cigarettes from 18 to 21, and directs Dept. of Health to evaluate the health effects of electronic cigarettes on the public (Full text here).

S684 use of verification software to scan and securely store purchasers’ photo ID for the purchase of tobacco products (which might include e-cigs) and alcoholic beverages if under age 25. As well, all products must be kept behind a container or locked container unless premises are restricted to people 18 years or older (full text here).

A852 requires sellers of electronic cigarettes to register with the department of taxation and finance which would create a compliance registry (full text here).

A237 increases the purchasing age for tobacco products (again, likely to include e-cigs) from eighteen to twenty-one (full text here).

A2221 amends the public health law and the tax law to define tobacco products (possibly including e-cigs in the new definition) and would change some other restrictions on tobacco products sales and tax rates (full text here).

A1743 requires companies selling tobacco products over the internet to first send a form to individuals to sign stating that such individual is eighteen years of age or older (full text here).

AB2595 works to include electronic cigarettes within provisions of public health law (full text here).

SB2202 requires retailers of electronic cigarettes to register with the department of health as tobacco sellers (full text here).

NY 25149 forces shop owners to report informational returns quarterly (full text here).

Many of the bills include more provisions. Every single one seems to have one of two goals: either to tightly restrict vapor product sales under the guise of protecting teens and nonsmokers or to simply make selling the products effectively impossible with rules that pretend to be compromise with the industry. Any one of these bills could be quite devastating to the industry — and would likely be rapidly copy-pasted into other states’ laws.

Want to help? There’s two major ways you can contribute to the effort against these bills in New York. Information for both can be found at this Indiegogo project. Either, you can contribute funds to help the vaping community hire a lobbyist to assist in combating these bills (apparently New York state laws require a professional lobbyist in order to lobby) –or– you can use the information for any one of the bill sponsors to reach out, share your story, or argue for reason (more info for that can also be found at the National Vapers Club website).

Godspeed, Vapers of New York. All our futures may be in your hands.