Monday, October 17 2011
By J. Glynn Loope | Executive Director, CRA
You come to expect the battles with the health care non-profits when confronting the issue of ‘cigar rights.' We often tell the stories of confronting the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. These are multi-million dollar organizations that work daily to hinder your ability to enjoy a cigar with as little government interference as possible.
But what happens when it is the actual government doing the same thing? The dynamic and magnitude of the problem changes dramatically. Such is the case with the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The CDC has an interesting name for one of their newsletters. It's the ‘Morbidity and Mortality Weekly.' The agency uses such platforms within their sizable Tobacco Control section to set a national political agenda, which is then carried out by groups within the health care non-profits. They have a cozy relationship.
In August of this year, the CDC issued a report on the issue of state preemption laws. Basically, it addresses the states that do not allow local governments to establish tobacco regulations stronger than that of the state. They note that a cornerstone of the tobacco control agenda, nationally, needs to be the elimination of state preemption laws.
So let's get this right. A federal agency is seeking to use its influence (in the form of grants, research, ‘public awareness' campaigns) to overturn established state laws that work for our ability to enjoy a cigar?! Hmmm...
The report, studying state preemption laws between 2000 and 2010, notes that the number of states that preempt local smoking restrictions decreased from 18 in 2000, to 12 in 2010. They highlight that Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and South Carolina rescinded preemption provisions, or they were overturned by the courts. CRA activated its members in Oklahoma and Wyoming on legislation like this in 2011, where the states would basically surrender tobacco control issues to the local governments. Coalitions from numerous business interests worked for their ultimate failure.
The entire CDC report revolves around an agenda known as implementing the Healthy People 2020 Objective. Reversing state preemption laws is a central component of that report, and it specifically seeks to advocate this agenda in the areas of smoking restrictions, advertising restrictions and youth access restrictions. While we agree with efforts to curtail and prevent any form of youth access to those not of legal age to access tobacco products, we need to fight efforts that would allow hundreds of local governments to delve into the arena of smoking restrictions and even tamper with advertising and marketing given the potential impact on cigar promotions that we each enjoy.
One state is already biting on this prohibitionist agenda, and it's the cornerstone state for cigars – Florida . Several local governments including Orange County and Martin County have already adopted resolutions asking that their legislative delegations to Tallahassee to support giving local governments authority over tobacco control, and in the case of Florida, specifically outdoor smoking.
Coupled with these local government actions, an editorial in this week's TC Palm newspaper calls on the Florida legislature to remove its preemption statutes so that local governments can call the shots on outdoor smoking regulations. Similar bills were defeated this year, and the CDC report and related tobacco control efforts from the health care community will surely call for similar bills in 2012.
We will each have to be diligent in watching for legislation seeking to eliminate preemption laws as it pertains to smoking restrictions in states such as Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia – as well as Florida, as these states will probably be targeted by those that lead the nanny-state agenda. There are a few other states that may be in play, and even if such legislation may have little chance of passage in many of these, it is still a developing issue, as our opposition gets ever more creative at complicating the enjoyment of a great cigar. We'll keep you posted on this, as we enter the 2012 legislative season.
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In other news: 16 NEW SPONSORS FOR H.R. 1639!
More Members of Congress are Telling FDA – ‘Leave Cigars Alone!'
We are pleased to report that the coalition of members in the US House of Representatives has grown to 84 (with new ones soon to be announced.) It is an outstanding show of progress for this legislation [that would exempt premium/traditional cigars from regulations issued by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration] that the following Representatives have added their names to the list of co-sponsors:
Charles Rangel of New York
Edolphus Towns of New York
Brett Guthrie of Kentucky
Devin Nunes of California
Michael Conaway of Texas
Bob Goodlatte of Virginia
Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania
Gary Miller of California
Don Young of Alaska
Randy Hultgren of Illinois
Vern Buchanan of Florida
Peter Roskam of Illinois
Steve Womack of Arkansas
Charles Bass of New Hampshire
Ben Chandler of Kentucky
Pete Olson of Texas
If one of these members represents you in the US Congress, call them and Say 'Thank You for Supporting H.R. 1639!'
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