Nevada Legislation proposes raising tobacco purchasing age to 21
Submitted by admin on Sat, 02/20/2021 - 12:50pm
Lawmakers are looking to bring Nevada in line with a federal law passed in 2019 that raises the legal tobacco sales age from 18 to 21.
If the state doesn’t do so within three years, it could lose millions each year from federal grants and a multi-state settlement with large tobacco companies. That funding supports a variety of initiatives including smoking prevention, but it’s also massively important to keeping the Millennium Scholarship afloat.
Still, the bill — AB59 — wasn’t without controversy in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Health districts and advocacy groups opposed it because they say they want tougher enforcement — including at least one or two compliance checks at retailers each year and the threat of license revocation for repeat offenders.
They don’t think the current penalties are strong enough. Clerks who sell to minors face a civil penalty of $100 that can escalate to $500 for multiple sales within two years, while retailers receive warnings for the first two sales to minors and then face a penalty starting at $500.
That’s more than the $1,000 fine for the first offense of selling a single loose cigarette.
But Jessica Adair, chief of staff for Attorney General Aaron Ford, defended the policy as a way not to be too harsh with frontline clerks who may be selling to minors for lack of training.
“We had initially proposed a stronger regulatory scheme and penalty process for retailers. That legislation did not pass,” she said. “We, however, did bring to this state ... for the first time, accountability for retailers who sell to minors.”
Stepping into the breach during the meeting to stress unity was Republican Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, who is often seen taking a smoke break outside the Legislative Building. He disclosed that he started smoking at age 13 and is now 67, and offered his help to get the bill to the finish line.
“I know that quitting smoking is easy because I've done this hundreds of times,” he quipped. “And I don't want to see our kids start smoking at their most vulnerable age.”
— This story is used with permission of The Nevada Independent. Go here for updates to this and other stories.
