Oregon Senate bill to ban flavored vaping products dead after revenue concerns

A ban on the sale and distribution of flavored vaping products will not move forward in the Oregon Legislature this session after an analysis of the revenue impact of a ban caused the bill to lose Democratic support.

The analysis, given to lawmakers by a tobacco industry lobbyist, showed that if voters passed an increase and expansion of the tobacco tax in November and the vaping ban in Senate Bill 1577 passed, the state could lose $5.4 million in revenue this biennium and $22.6 million in the next biennium.

If the bill was amended to include a ban on other flavored products — such as menthol cigarettes and moist snuff — the losses could exceed $70 million in the current biennium and $227 million in the next.

The Legislative Revenue Office has yet to conduct its own analysis of the impact, but bill sponsor Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, said her office verified the underlying numbers with revenue staff and believe the analysis to be accurate.

Monnes Anderson said a few of her colleagues were concerned about the revenue impact, while others were worried about how the bill might affect the campaign to pass the tobacco tax referral.

Trash burner: Bill to give Covanta incinerator renewable energy credits put on hold

During the 2019 legislative session, lawmakers voted to refer a tobacco and cigarette tax increase to voters. Estimates indicated that if voters approved the tax, it could raise $350 million for the state's Medicaid program.

"Of course, my argument is: We are unfortunately having a generation of youth that are becoming addicted, due to the fact that vaping has nicotine in it," Monnes Anderson said. "I feel strongly that we need to be addressing that issue. That issue is far more important than the revenue."

During a meeting of the Senate Health Care Committee, the ban was removed and replaced with a retail licensure component long sought by some lawmakers.

The bill would now require that anyone selling tobacco or vaping products must do so from a location licensed by the state. It was passed out of committee on a party-line vote and will head to the budget writing Joint Ways and Means Committee.

Support local journalism: Stay on top of legislative action this year. Subscribe to the Statesman Journal and get 24-hour access to news coverage that matter.

Oregon is one of only eight states that does not have a retail tobacco licensure system, said Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Portland.

"We cannot enforce (a ban) in the same way as we could if we don’t have retail licensure," Steiner Hayward said. "Retail licensure is critically important for tobacco and vaping control."

At the committee hearing, Republican senators voiced concerns that this year's 35-day session might not be the best time to attempt to pass this proposal.

The amendment to SB 1577, which was ultimately attached to the bill, was not publicly released until a couple hours before the meeting.

"I think this presents the problem with short session, and that is we don’t have enough time to work this out and we’re going to be relying on Ways and Means to do what appears to be substantive work," said Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend. "I think we do need a licensing program, but I would like it a lot more defined.”

What others in Salem are reading:

Oregon's economy stable, job growth slowing, coronavirus outbreak a worry

3 vape store licenses suspended for not complying with ban

Former NORPAC workers could get extended unemployment under Senate bill

Contact reporter Connor Radnovich at cradnovich@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6864, or follow him on Twitter at @CDRadnovich