SB3098 amends the state law to provide that no person shall cause electronic cigarettes to be shipped to anyone under 21 years of age, other than a distributor or retailer.
The House passed SB3098 on May 24, 2024, by a vote of 113 to 0. We have assigned minuses to the yeas because “public health,” including “anti-smoking initiatives,” is not the purpose of government. This bill is just another government overreach that restricts personal freedoms and harms local businesses. It follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s unconstitutional and erroneous minimum-age requirements that deny to adult citizens younger than 21 years of age—who are both eligible to vote and enlist in the military—their right to purchase tobacco, electronic cigarettes, and alternative nicotine products. An individual’s non-injurious personal decisions over what they choose to eat, drink, or consume should not be criminalized, but instead considered private matters not under federal, state, or local jurisdiction. The Constitution’s Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment were intended to protect individual rights and free-market enterprise against such arbitrary and discriminatory acts.
