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]