Act Now to Stop Kansas Vape Ban
As a vape wholesaler or reseller, your business is now in peril. PMTA Registry Laws are a de facto vape ban designed to put marketplace rivals to Big Tobacco out of business and leave their more expensive and lower-margin products as the last vape standing.
Act Now to Stop Kansas HB 2801
Kansas HB 2801 is a PMTA Registry Law. Dozens of similar laws have been proposed in other states and are referred to as the Big Tobacco Protection Act.
HB 2801 is schedule for a House Hearing on February 20, 2024 at 9:00am.
- Tuesday, February 20, 2024
- 9:00 AM
- Room 346-S
- Committee Assistant: Connie Bahner 785-368-7166
- H.Fed.State.Affairs@house.ks.gov
To request committee agendas or submit testimony please email H.Fed.State.Affairs@house.ks.gov.
All testimony submissions must be in pdf format.
Click here or on the call-to-action banner below to visit CASAA and use their customizable email template to make your voice heard.
You can also use the Legislator Lookup to find who represents you and let them know that you vape, you vote, and that this scheme will destroy jobs and lives.
Kansas PMTA Registry Bill
Under the Kansas PMTA Registry Bill, all vape products released after 2016 will be barred. This means every popular disposable will be gone, leaving Vuse, Juul and MyBlu with a virtual monopoly.
A recent FDA study showed that flavor bans increase cigarette sales. This law flies in the face of that science and would leave less popular artificial-tobacco flavors as the only option.
Youth vaping rates have fallen every year since 2019 yet these laws represent the most aggressive attempt yet to kill the independent vape industry and deny adult vapers access to their preferred products and flavors.
What if Kansas HB 2801 Passes?
If enacted, Kansas HB 2801 would make the state of Kansas an enforcement arm of the Food and Drug Administration empowering state authorities to enforce the disastrous federal anti-vaping regulations.
Only a few obsolete nicotine vaping products have received full PMTA approval from the FDA and the entire process is under fire. While the most popular Big Tobacco manufactured products and Juul have also not received approval, they would be permitted due to the wording of the law. More cost-effective disposable vapes, still sold in the flavors that adult vapers prefer, would be barred.
This law would put independent vape shops out of business, force convenience stores to sell expensive and lower margin tobacco flavored products, put hundreds of workers out of jobs, and force thousands of adult vapers to choose between less-appealing artificial tobacco flavored pods and combustible cigarettes. Both being manufactured by the tobacco industry.
CRITICISMS OF PMTA REGISTRY BILLS
- Structured so that the tobacco industry’s vape products remain on market, despite also not having received PMTA authorization, while barring their less expensive competition.
- Serves as a flavor ban, denying adult vapers the flavors they prefer. An FDA funded study found cigarette sales increase in areas with flavor bans.
- Bars easy to use disposable vapes, which are ideal for initiates and not coincidentally compete head-to-head with prefilled pod kits made by Big Tobacco.
- Harms small businesses, vape shops and convenience stores, by removing high-volume and profitable products while leaving lower margin tobacco industry vapes on shelves.
- Contrary to spirit of consumer choice and entrepreneurship, barring products released after 2016.
KANSANS WILL PAY FOR A BIG TOBACCO MONOPOLY
The price difference between independent vape industry products and those made by Big Tobacco is staggering. It costs over $200 to vape 30ml of e-liquid from a Vuse Alto. For Juul users, that cost increases to nearly $350 per 30ml.
A Lost Mary MT15000 Turbo costs a $63 to vape the same amount of e-liquid. The difference for the average user can equal a car lease or student loan payment.
This table does not even account for the fact that a legally enforced monopoly will provide the tobacco industry with the freedom to raise prices further. What is the worst that can happen? Profitable cigarettes sold in place of vapes?
Consumer freedom, choice, and your pocketbook will take a huge hit if the Kansas Vape Sales Ban is to pass.