Legislature(2015 - 2016)CAPITOL 106
03/10/2015 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB59 | |
| Discussion: Medicaid Expansion | |
| HB59 | |
| HB40 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 59 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 40 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 40-USE OF ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES AS SMOKING
4:58:01 PM
CHAIR SEATON announced that the final order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 40, "An Act relating to the use of electronic
cigarettes; and providing for an effective date."
4:58:33 PM
REPRESENTATIVE BOB HERRON, Alaska State Legislature, relayed
that the genesis of the proposed bill was a result of e-
cigarette use in the Anchorage Airport. When he asked the
Department of Transportation & Public Facilities, he was told
there was not any policy, law, or regulation limiting the use of
electronic cigarettes. He stated that although he was not
against e-cigarette devices, the exhaled aerosol did contain
particulates. He asked that the use of these devices be limited
to those areas where cigars and cigarettes were currently
allowed.
5:00:23 PM
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ moved to adopt the proposed committee
substitute (CS) for HB 40, labeled 29-LS0232\W, Martin, 3/7/15,
as the working draft. There being no objection, it was so
ordered.
5:01:03 PM
ROB EARL, Staff, Representative Bob Herron, Alaska State
Legislature, explained that the committee substitute added "and
other oral smoking devices," on page 1, line 8, in order to
capture the next generation of vaporizers. The American Cancer
Society had made the suggestion to expand this definition. He
stated that the proposed bill expanded the definition of smoking
in AS 18 to include e-cigarettes, and the bill also defined
electronic cigarettes, lines 4 - 7. He reported that proposed
HB 40 would prohibit e-cigarette use statewide in any public
places where smoking tobacco was currently not allowed as
spelled out in AS 18.35.300, which included public
transportation vehicles, facilities, state office buildings,
other buildings operated by the state, nursing homes, etc. He
said that state law was currently a bit unclear whether e-
cigarette use would be prohibited in public places where tobacco
was currently banned because there was not a definition of
smoking in AS 18. The proposed bill would clarify that issue by
defining smoking to include e-cigarettes. He said that some
local Alaska jurisdictions had enacted comprehensive smoke free
workplace ordinances that included bans on smoking which
included e-cigarettes. He listed these communities to include
Nome, Juneau, Palmer, Haines Borough, Petersburg, and Skagway,
although the Anchorage law, passed in 2006, did not mention e-
cigarettes.
5:02:57 PM
CHAIR SEATON asked for clarification that the proposed bill was
for e-cigarettes to be banned from areas where cigarettes were
currently banned.
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES asked about the advice from the American
Cancer Society to equate these devices the same as tobacco.
MR. EARL explained that the American Cancer Society (ACS) had
helped expand the definition for smoking in the committee
substitute. He referenced slide 11 of the PowerPoint [Included
in members' packets], and clarified that proposed HB 40 did not
define e-cigarettes as a tobacco product, as there would then be
taxation and other implications.
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES, asking about the advice from ACS to treat
e-cigarettes similar to products containing tobacco, questioned
what substantiated that advice.
MR. EARL deferred to a representative from ACS.
5:05:36 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR asked if there was testimony available from
Legislative Legal Services.
CHAIR SEATON pointed out that the bill would be held over.
5:06:03 PM
EMILY NENON, Alaska Government Relations Director, American
Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said that she would be
available at the next House Health and Social Services Standing
Committee meeting, and that she was available for any questions.
5:06:40 PM
CHAR DAY, Americans for Non-Smokers' Rights (ANR), explained
that the organization was a national member based group
committed to clear the air of second hand smoke, including "the
smoke that comes off of the end of an e-cigarette and out of the
breath of those who use e-cigarettes." She said the group was
also working to prevent another generation addicted to nicotine.
She encouraged support for HB 40, as it would prohibit the use
of e-cigarettes and other electronic smoking devices in places
that were required to be smoke free. She declared that ANR
supported prohibiting the use of electronic cigarettes in smoke
free environments at all times without exception. She offered
her belief that this was a worker health and safety issue, given
the growing body of science for what was in the second hand
aerosol, also known as vapor, emitted from an e-cigarette. She
allowed that, although there was not as much science on what was
in the second hand aerosol from an e-cigarette as tobacco
cigarettes, there was plenty to cause concern. She stated that
second hand aerosol contained volatile organic compounds, ultra-
fine particles, lead, chromium, nicotine, and other toxins. She
stated that legislators were choosing to not allow the use of
electronic smoking devices in smoke free environments so that
workers and patrons do not have to breathe the aerosol. She
relayed that there were currently at least 274 municipalities
and 3 states which had included e-cigarettes as items prohibited
from use in smoke free environments. She clarified that ANR was
not proposing an outright prohibition or ban on e-cigarettes,
but were only concerned with exposure to non-users from the
emitted aerosol. She stated that e-cigarettes should not be
used indoors or inside public places that would then pose a
health hazard to non-users. She pointed out that e-cigarettes
could be used to vape other substances, including hemp oil and
marijuana. She declared that there was a growing body of
science research which showed that the aerosol was a new source
of air pollution that contained ultra-fine particles with low
levels of toxins known to cause cancer, including benzene,
formaldehyde, and lead. She urged support of HB 40 to prohibit
the use of e-cigarettes and other electronic smoking devices in
places that are supposed to be smoke free.
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES noted that there was not a lot of history
or studies that it may potentially cause health issues, and she
asked for verifiable research that these were as hazardous to
health as cigarettes.
MS. DAY replied that there were new studies about e-cigarettes
being released monthly. She listed a recent study by the
American Society for Heating and Air Conditioning Regulations,
the standard setting body for indoor air, which had added e-
cigarettes to the list for things not to have in indoor air.
She noted that the World Health Organization had written a
background paper on e-cigarettes, which stated that people
exposed to e-cigarette vapor absorb nicotine, with one study
comparing this to the levels comparative to passive smokers.
She stated that a recently published environmental research
journal addressed the cotinine of non-smokers exposed to e-
cigarettes. She reiterated that new studies were published
monthly about the dangers of e-cigarettes.
CHAIR SEATON asked that copies of the studies be provided to the
committee.
5:12:44 PM
[HB 40 was held over]