MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Human Services; Ways and Means
By: Representative Yancey
AN ACT TO CREATE THE "MISSISSIPPI TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION ACT OF 2024"; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS; TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS; TO PROVIDE THAT FLAVORED VAPOR PRODUCTS SHALL ONLY BE SOLD IN AGE RESTRICTED VAPOR AND/OR TOBACCO BUSINESSES; TO PROVIDE THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LICENSING AND OVERSIGHT OF AGE RESTRICTED TOBACCO AND/OR VAPOR BUSINESSES, AND MUST BEGIN ISSUING FLAVORED VAPOR LICENSES TO SUCH BUSINESSES NO LATER THAN JULY 1, 2024; TO PROVIDE THAT A BUSINESS THAT IS NOT AGE RESTRICTED AND DOES NOT DERIVE MORE THAN SEVENTY PERCENT OF ITS BUSINESS REVENUE FROM THE SALE OF PRODUCTS CONTAINING TOBACCO, VAPOR, OR CBD, IS PROHIBITED FROM SELLING FLAVORED VAPOR PRODUCTS; TO REQUIRE BUSINESSES THAT SELL TOBACCO AND/OR VAPOR PRODUCTS TO POST A CLEARLY VISIBLE AND CONSPICUOUS NOTICE OF CERTAIN AGE RESTRICTIONS AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE LOCATION WHERE SUCH PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE; TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO CONDUCT RANDOM, UNANNOUNCED INSPECTIONS; TO PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN VIOLATIONS OF THIS ACT; TO PROVIDE FOR EXCEPTIONS AND DEFENSES FOR CERTAIN VIOLATIONS OF THIS ACT; TO PROVIDE THAT AN AGE RESTRICTED BUSINESS THAT SELLS PRODUCTS THAT CONTAIN FENTANYL AND/OR TIANEPTINE SHALL AUTOMATICALLY HAVE ITS FLAVORED VAPING LICENSE REVOKED, AND SHALL BE PERMANENTLY BANNED FROM RENEWING SUCH LICENSE; TO PROHIBIT PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE YEARS FROM ENTERING THE PREMISES OF A RETAILER THAT SELLS, STORES, OR MAINTAINS KRATOM PRODUCTS; TO PROHIBIT PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE YEARS FROM PURCHASING, RECEIVING, OR HAVING IN HIS OR HER POSSESSION ANY KRATOM PRODUCT; TO PROHIBIT RETAILERS FROM SELLING ANY KRATOM PRODUCT TO ANY PERSON UNDER THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE YEARS; TO REQUIRE RETAILERS THAT SELL, STORE, OR MAINTAIN KRATOM PRODUCTS TO POST A SIGN IN A CONSPICUOUS PLACE AT OR NEAR EACH ENTRANCE STATING THAT ONLY PERSONS TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER ARE PERMITTED TO ENTER THE PREMISES; TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS RELATING TO SECTIONS 13 THROUGH 15 OF THIS ACT; TO PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR A VIOLATION OF SECTIONS 13 THROUGH 15 OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Mississippi Tobacco Harm Reduction Act of 2024."
SECTION 2. The Legislature makes the following findings:
(a) The State of Mississippi recognizes that the use of combustible tobacco products has devastating health and economic consequences costing the state over $3 billion in lost productivity and healthcare costs;
(b) Combustible tobacco use is the foremost preventable cause of premature death in America. It is responsible for four hundred eighty thousand (480,000) deaths, which is one thousand three hundred (1,300) Americans daily, in the United States annually as reported by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention. This leads to more than $600 billion in health care and lost worker productivity costs each year;
(c) ENDS (Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems) products do not combust any tobacco and have scientifically been proven to be less than five percent (5%) harmful to human beings based upon eight thousand seven hundred (8,700) plus publicly available scientific studies as opposed to one hundred percent (100%) harmful effects of combustible tobacco, such as cigarettes, hookah, cigars, cigarillos and pipe tobacco;
(d) The CDC reported an estimated 2.5 million youth aged seventeen (17) and younger use e-cigarettes where most use flavored products and disposable type e-cigarettes are the product of choice;
(e) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports that Mississippi convenience stores (C-Stores) are responsible for seventy-seven percent (77%) of youth violation sales, twenty percent (20%) for hybrid tobacco stores for youth violation sales, and three percent (3%) for dedicated vapor stores for the year of 2022;
(f) Senate Bill 2596, 2020 Regular Session, raised the age of tobacco purchases to twenty-one (21) years or older and requiring businesses to require identification for any customer who appears under the age of twenty-seven (27), which led to reduced youth use (which is consistent with raising the age of alcohol);
SECTION 3. As used in Sections 1 through 12 of this act, the following terms have the meanings as defined in this section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "Age restricted tobacco and/or vapor business" means a business that requires persons to be twenty-one (21) years of age or older to enter the premises of such business;
(b) "Person" means any individual, company, limited liability company, corporation, partnership, association, joint venture, estate, trust or any other group, or combination acting as a unit, and the plural as well as the singular, unless the intention to give a more limited meaning is disclosed by the context;
(c) "Wholesaler" means dealers whose principal business is that of a wholesale dealer, and that is known to the trade as such, that sells any tobacco products or vapor products to licensed retail dealers only for the purpose of resale;
(d) "Retailer" means every dealer, other than a wholesaler as defined above, whose principal business is that of selling merchandise at retail, who sells, or offer for sale, tobacco products or vapor products;
(e) "Consumer" means a person who comes into possession of tobacco or vapor products for the purpose of consuming it;
(f) "Electronic smoking device" has the same definition as the term "electronic cigarette" as provided in Section 97-32-51. The term "electronic smoking device" also includes the term "alternative nicotine product" as provided in Section 97-32-51, as applicable;
(g) "Flavored vapor product" means any vapor product that contains nicotine, and that is not composed of only tobacco or menthol;
(h) "Vapor product" means an electronic product or device that produces a vapor that delivers substances to the person inhaling from the device to simulate smoking;
(i) "Tobacco" means any cigarettes, cigars, cheroots, stogies, smoking tobacco (including granulated, plug cut, crimp cut, ready rubbed, and other kinds and forms of tobacco, or substitutes therefor, prepared in such manner as to be suitable for smoking in a pipe or cigarette) and including plug and twist chewing tobacco and snuff, when such "tobacco" is manufactured and prepared for sale or personal consumption;
(j) "CBD" means cannabidiol.
SECTION 4. Flavored vapor products shall only be sold in age restricted vapor and/or tobacco businesses.
SECTION 5. (1) The Department of Revenue shall be responsible for the licensing and oversight of age restricted tobacco and/or vapor businesses, and shall begin issuing flavored vapor licenses to such businesses upon the effective date of this act.
Any business that intends to derive its primary source of revenue from flavored vapor products must submit an application for a flavored vapor license in a manner and form as prescribed by the department. The business shall be subject to an annual license fee of Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00) per location. The flavored vapor license must be renewed on an annual basis, and the business shall renew its license no more than thirty (30) days after the date of expiration of such license.
Any business is allowed to sell vapor products that are composed of only tobacco, menthol, or nicotine, and that are not enhanced with any other flavors. Such a business is not required to be issued a flavored vapor license.
The department shall issue flavored vapor licenses for age restricted tobacco and/or vapor businesses as provided for in this section within thirty (30) days of receipt of the application.
(2) The department is authorized to adopt rules and regulations as necessary in order to best effectuate the purpose and intent of Sections 1 through 12 of this act.
SECTION 6. Any business that is not age restricted and does not derive more than seventy percent (70%) of its business revenue from the sale of products containing tobacco, vapor, CBD, or any combination thereof, shall not sell flavored vapor products that are not composed of only tobacco or menthol.
SECTION 7. A business shall not sell, or permit the sale of, tobacco and/or vapor products in this state unless a clearly visible and conspicuous notice is posted at the entrance of the location where tobacco and/or vapor products are available for purchase. Such notice must state, "No person under the age of twenty-one (21) may purchase tobacco products," legibly printed in letters not less than one (1) inch in size. Any sale of vapor products requires legal age verification.
SECTION 8. The State Department of Health, or its authorized designee, may conduct random, unannounced inspections at locations where tobacco and/or vapor products are sold to test and ensure compliance with Sections 1 through 12 of this act.
Each age restricted tobacco and/or vapor business is subject to a minimum of two (2) annual unannounced compliance checks during normal operating hours. Unannounced follow-up compliance checks of all noncompliant retailers are required within thirty (30) days after any violation. The department, or its designee, shall publish the results of all compliance checks annually, and shall make the results available to the public upon request. This section does not preclude any law enforcement in the state from conducting checks in coordination with the department or its authorized designee.
SECTION 9. (1) A business that is not an age restricted tobacco and/or vapor business, that sells flavored vapor products, shall be required to remove the flavored vapor products within thirty (30) days of the effective date of this act. Failure to remove such products shall result in forfeiture of the business's license issued by the Secretary of State within thirty (30) days of a follow up compliance inspection from the State Department of Health, or its authorized designee.
(2) (a) A business that is issued a business license by the Secretary of State shall not transfer such license to any family member of any owner, operator, employee, agent or representative of such business.
(b) A business that violates paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) will be subject to a fine of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00), forfeit its business license issued by the Secretary of State, and shall be banned from submitting an application for any future licenses issued by the State of Mississippi for vapor and CBD products. The state may recover costs of any investigations, costs of action, and reasonable attorney fees under this section.
(3) A business that sublets its business location to a family member who is in violation of this act shall forfeit its business license, and will be subject to a fine of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00). The state is entitled to recover costs of any investigations, costs of action, and reasonable attorney fees.
SECTION 10. Age restricted tobacco and/or vapor businesses that sell vapor products to persons under the age of twenty-one (21) years shall be subject to a fine of:
(a) Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) for a first offense;
(b) One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for a second offense; and
(c) Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00) for a third and subsequent offense.
Age restricted tobacco and/or vapor businesses that have more than three (3) sales to persons under the age of twenty-one (21) years at the same location within a twelve-month consecutive period shall forfeit its flavored vapor license issued by the Department of Revenue for that location for the remaining period until the date of expiration for such license. After such license expires, the business may reapply for license renewal.
Retailers who sell vapor products that are composed of only tobacco or menthol flavor to persons under the age of twenty-one (21) years, are subject to the enforcement and monetary penalties as provided in this section.
Retailers who sell vapor products that are composed of only tobacco or menthol flavor that have more than three (3) violations in a twelve-month consecutive period shall be subject to a fine of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) per occurrence.
SECTION 11. (1) The penalties in Sections 1 through 12 of this act do not apply to persons under the age of twenty-one (21) years who purchase or attempt to purchase tobacco products while under the direct supervision of employees of a state agency for training, education, research, or enforcement purposes.
(2) A person under the age of twenty-one (21) years is prohibited from handling flavored vapor products in the course of lawful employment.
(3) It is an affirmative defense to a violation of Sections 1 through 12 of this act for a person to have reasonably relied on proof of age as provided by Mississippi law.
SECTION 12. An age restricted tobacco and/or vapor business that sells products that contain fentanyl and/or tianeptine shall automatically have its flavored vaping license revoked, and shall be permanently banned from renewing such license.
SECTION 13. As used in Sections 13 through 15 of this act, the following terms have the meanings as defined in this section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "Kratom product" means a product containing any part of the leaf of the plant Mitragyna Speciosa, or an extract of it processed as a powder, capsule, pill, beverage, or any other edible or consumable form, or any product containing Mitragynine or 7-hydroxymitragynine.
(b) "Retailer" means any individual, partnership, corporation, cooperative association, or other business entity that sells or advertises kratom products to consumers at retail, or stores or maintains kratom products.
SECTION 14. (1) (a) No person under the age of twenty-one (21) years shall be permitted to enter the premises of a retailer that sells, stores, or maintains kratom products.
(b) No person under the age of twenty-one (21) years shall purchase, receive, or have in his or her possession in any public place, any kratom product.
(2) (a) No retailer, nor any owner, operator, employee, representative, or agent of such retailer, shall sell, furnish, dispose of, give, or cause to be sold, furnished, disposed of, or given, any kratom product to any person under the age of twenty-one (21) years.
(b) Retailers that sell, store, or maintain kratom products shall post a sign in a conspicuous place at or near each entrance stating that only persons twenty-one (21) years of age or older are permitted to enter the premises.
SECTION 15. (1) (a) Any person under the age of twenty-one (21) years who falsely states he or she is twenty-one (21) years of age or older, or presents any document that indicates he or she is twenty-one (21) years of age or older, for the purpose of entering the premises of a retailer that sells, stores, or maintains kratom products shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00), nor more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), and a sentence to not more than thirty (30) days' community service.
(b) Any person under the age of twenty-one (21) years who purchases, receives, or has in his or her possession in any public place, any kratom product, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not less than Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) nor more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00).
(2) (a) Any owner, operator, employee, representative, or agent of a retailer that sells, stores, or maintains kratom products, who violates, or permits the violation of, subsection (1)(a) of this section, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or imprisoned in the county jail not more than six (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(b) Any owner, operator, employee, representative, or agent of a retailer that sells, stores, or maintains kratom products, who shall sell, furnish, dispose of, give, or cause to be sold, furnished, disposed of, or given, any kratom product to any person under the age of twenty-one (21) years, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or imprisoned in the county jail not more than six (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION 16. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.