SALT LAKE CITY – A bill regulating the sale of flavored vaping products was approved by state representatives approved in a House committee meeting Tuesday, bringing the legislation one step closer to becoming a law.
A laundry list of items was presented and debated in a public House Committee meeting at the capitol Tuesday.
On the agenda, House Bill 118 – one of many pieces of legislation addressing vaping introduced this legislative session.
HB 118, known as the 'retail tobacco amendment,' aims to change the way flavored vaping products are sold.
“Any step we can take to get this harmful product out of the hands of our youth is a good step forward,” the committee chairman said.
In a basic sense, unless a business is licensed as a ‘specialty tobacco retail store,’ flavored products are off the shelf.
“We see this as a way of having the things that are most attractive to the kids, in stores where kids are not supposed to be,” another man said in favor of the legislation.
Others expressed concerns that it had the potential to bring more harm than good to businesses who currently carry the product, but are not age restrictive.
In a statement to FOX 13, Juan Bravo, president of the Utah Vapor Business Association, said they could not get behind the bill.
“It arbitrarily shuts down businesses that are operating legally,” Bravo said.
"Inconveniencing businesses is okay collateral damage to protect our kids, and that’s really what it comes down to," said Rep. Jennifer Dailey-Provost, who sponsored the bill.
The bill passed unanimously in the House and will now undergo the same process in the Senate.
