This year, Austin said she remains optimistic.

“A lot of the legislators I’ve spoken to are curious about these electronic products and what our youth rates are and how we talk to our schools about them,” Austin said. “I always think it’s a good sign. When they’re asking questions about an issue and looking to gain knowledge, that helps them make better decisions on how to put policy into place.”

She adds recent national attention to e-cigarettes is also motivating. Wednesday, the federal Food and Drug Administration announced it will begin escalating regulations on major smoking companies to “forcefully address youth use trends.” The FDA sent letters to five major e-cigarette companies last week, it said, requesting they return in 60 days with a plan to address the “widespread use of their products by minors.”

Dr. Eric Johnson, president of Tobacco Free North Dakota’s board of directors, said the FDA already considers e-cigarettes tobacco products.

“They’re nicotine delivery systems, and nicotine is derived from tobacco,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to synthetically create nicotine, so it’s usually just derived from tobacco.”

Johnson thinks it’s “pretty well understood” e-cigarettes are tobacco products, he said.