SB 182-AGE FOR NICOTINE/E-CIG; TAX E-CIG.  2:09:22 PM CHAIR BISHOP announced the consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 182, "An Act raising the minimum age to purchase, sell, exchange, or possess tobacco, a product containing nicotine, or an electronic smoking product; relating to the taxation of electronic smoking products; and providing for an effective date." He noted that this was the second hearing and the committee would hear public testimony on SB 182. 2:10:23 PM MICHAEL SCRIVEN, representing self, Anchorage, Alaska, spoke in support of SB 182. He said that he and his 13-year-old daughter talked to legislators last summer about passing a bill like this one. He thanked Senator Stevens for introducing the bill. He expressed concern about vaping, e-cigarettes, and marketing these items to kids. He supports increasing the age for tobacco use to 21. He has been working on this since last spring and since then the deaths and illnesses from vaping have increased tenfold. He urged members to support SB 182 and pass it from committee. 2:12:56 PM CASSIE FROST, Volunteer, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACSCAN), Anchorage, Alaska, spoke in support of SB 182. She said she is a graduate student in a master's program at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She expressed concern about the e-cigarette epidemic and its effect on young people. Long-term tobacco use has affected her family, including that she lost her grandmother to lung disease three years ago. MS. FROST highlighted that schools in Alaska report finding a surprising number of these devices on students in elementary and high schools. She asked the committee to support SB 182 which aims to reduce youth access to e-products by raising the existing tobacco control policies from age 19 to 21. This will help keep these products out of the hands of youth. Also, it will allow e-cigarettes to be taxed and treated like tobacco. This will help reduce sales to youth because they are most sensitive to price increases. 2:15:13 PM JOSHUA FILAF, representing self, Soldotna, Alaska, said he works in a vape shop and disagrees with SB 182 because a 25 percent increase in taxes on these products will likely force many shops to close. When adult consumers are unable to purchase these safe products in a shop, they will purchase them online. He reported that studies have shown that Medicare costs are reduced when people are vaping rather than smoking tobacco products. He said this bill is a waste of taxpayers' money. 2:16:28 PM KELLY MARRE, representing self, Wasilla, Alaska, said cancer has greatly affected her family. Nearly every member on her mother's side of the family has had cancer and both she and her son were diagnosed with leukemia. Research shows that 50 percent of cancers can be prevented. She offered her view that protecting youth from tobacco use can lower risks for cancer. She said supporting SB 182 will make e-cigarettes less accessible to youth. Changing Alaska's law to conform to federal law by increasing the age for purchasing tobacco products to those 21 years of age will provide further help in protecting Alaska's youth. 2:17:36 PM VALERIA DELGADO, representing self, Anchorage, Alaska, spoke in support of SB 182. She said she works with Alaska's youth and has seen the impact of electronic cigarettes and vapes. Young adults are struggling to quit using e-cigarettes due to the high amount of nicotine they contain. Studies have shown that teens who use e-cigarettes are twice as likely to smoke regular cigarettes. She offered her view that increasing the age to 21 for purchasing tobacco products will help counter the tobacco industry's efforts to get teens and young adults hooked on nicotine. 2:18:24 PM ALYSSA KEILL, representing self, Fairbanks, Alaska, spoke in support of SB 182. She said that she is a swim coach for a local swim team and she often discusses ways to stay with her students. The swim team members often mention that they see vaping in their schools and that students are selling vaping products to one another. She has held discussions with her students on the impact that nicotine would have on their performance in sports and in school. She said studies have shown that price increases of 10 percent for tobacco products leads to a decrease in youth use by 7 percent so raising the price of vaping products could help prevent youths from picking up e- cigarette habits. 2:20:16 PM JENNIFER BRANDT, representing self, Wasilla, Alaska, said SB 182 will put the state in compliance with federal law and reduce enticement of Alaska's youth to try and buy vaping products. She pointed out that adults who use nicotine products typically want to quit and e-cigarettes are nicotine products. She further pointed out that taxes on tobacco products encourage people to quit, so an increase in taxes on e-cigarettes will give people an additional reason to be nicotine free and healthier. She urged members to pass SB 182. 2:21:18 PM HEATHER ARONNO, Grassroots Manager, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACSCAN), Anchorage, Alaska, spoke in support of SB 182. She offered her view that this bill provides a practical solution to problems that are seen across the country. In her role at ACSCAN, she has observed and heard about the numerous people who have been impacted by vaping products. 2:22:28 PM TERRENCE ROBBINS, Managing Director, Southeast Prevention Services, Ketchikan, Alaska, spoke in support of SB 182. He reported that 95 percent of adult smokers became addicted to tobacco before the age of 21. Surveys show that most youth obtain tobacco from older friends and relatives. Limiting vaping products to those 21 years of age will drastically shrink youth access to tobacco products. He said he offers 10-week tobacco cessation clinics to Ketchikan youth who report that their access to tobacco is almost always through friends. He related that after Ketchikan voters approved an excise tax that included e-cigarettes starting January 2017, a survey found that adult cigarette usage decreased 21.4 percent in the first year. He agreed with previous testifiers on the effect of tax increases for vaping and tobacco products. He reported that when Ketchikan increased the cost of cigarettes by 50 percent, there was a 21.4 percent decrease in purchases. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System data is not yet available for that timeframe, but he anticipated a greater decrease in youth cigarette use. However, because of the increase in e-cigarette use, an overall decrease in tobacco use is not anticipated. 2:25:14 PM SENATOR STEVENS related his understanding that Ketchikan increased the tax on tobacco products, but not on e-cigarettes. MR. ROBBINS answered that the Ketchikan Gateway Borough did include e-cigarettes. He explained that the borough collects a $2 tax per pack of cigarettes, and it taxes 50 percent of the wholesale rate on other tobacco products. 2:26:19 PM ALEX MCDONALD, representing self, Fairbanks, Alaska, stated that SB 182 is bad public policy. He reported that prior to the Medicaid expansion, the state received $97 million in revenue from tobacco taxes but spent $220 million on Medicaid smoking- related illnesses. He offered his view that taxing products to get people away from cigarettes costs the state money. An article from the National Bureau of Economic Research showed that for every 10 percent increase in e-cigarette taxes has the effect of increasing cigarette sales by 11 percent. Thus, the result of this bill will be a significant increase in cigarette use in the state. He also pointed out that these products may not be on the market after May. He predicted that if the federal government does not address free market tobacco, the small businesses producing juice will go out of business. He recalled that when the Mat-Su Borough passed a tax increase a lot of the shops shut down and people ordered online. He expressed concern that the bill also makes people between the ages of 19-21 criminals for no good reason. At Fort Wainwright, soldiers who go to and from war zones would not be able to buy these vaping products, which does not seem fair. 2:29:11 PM NOEL CROWLEY-BELL, representing self, Palmer, Alaska, spoke in support of SB 182. She offered her view that this bill will provide the safeguards Alaska youths need to avoid the trap that an addiction to nicotine brings. She said she has watched with alarm the increasing use of e-cigarettes. Her daughter reports that students use e-cigarettes in school and her son expresses concern that exposure to second-hand aerosol from vaping will cause his asthma to flare up. E-cigarette usage is a common topic among parents. She asked the committee to pass SB 182. 2:30:44 PM SHAUN D'SYLVA, Co-Founder, Clear the Air Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska, stated that he owns three vapor stores in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Wasilla. He said that he thinks that increasing the age for purchasing tobacco products to 21 is a great idea. It is a federal guideline. However, a 75 percent wholesale tax is a concern. He said his business has helped 80,000 people stop smoking. He said that he is in the business of harm reduction. He offered his view that kids should be held responsible when found with vaping products, but he does not support limiting adult access since vaping products are a safer option than tobacco. He referred to the United Kingdom's (UK) goal, which is no combustible cigarettes by 2025. Vaping is prescribed for adults to help them stop smoking. He offered his view that in the U.S. nicotine is demonized but smoking is not. However, it is smoking that kills, not nicotine. He objected to taxing e- products at the same level as cigarettes. If the intent is to limit youth access, a better approach would be to strengthen the penalties for retailers that sell to youth and to penalize youth in possession. 2:33:42 PM SENATOR REVAK asked about studies and how vaping is treated differently than tobacco cigarettes in the UK. MR. D'SYLVA explained that e-cigarettes became popular in the UK about 2008 and Public Health England (PHE) began analyzing the health implications of vaping. In 2015, PHE, the Royal College of Physicians, and UK's cancer society released a comprehensive study that definitively determined that e-cigarette use was at least 95 percent safer than combustible tobacco products. Those experts have revisited the issue every year since and have not changed their position. He said the UK allows vape stores in hospitals because they would rather have adults vape than smoke combustible cigarettes. He offered his view that the lung issues mentioned earlier resulted from illegal THC cartridges tainted with vitamin E acetate, not e-cigarettes. He opined that if the state is worried about public health, it would be dangerous to tax vape products in the same manner as cigarettes. He said the taxation rules are detrimental. 2:37:39 PM SENATOR STEVENS said there may be some confusion since the bill follows the federal law on age. He expressed a willingness to discuss the tax rate but pointed out that Ketchikan has a 50 percent tax rate that has been successful in decreasing use. He said most people are in favor of the bill to safeguard the health of youth. 2:38:38 PM CHAIR BISHOP closed public testimony and held SB 182 in committee for further consideration.