COLORADO, USA — A proposed bill aimed at limiting the sale of flavored nicotine products in Colorado on Tuesday passed a first reading in the House Health & Insurance committee, with a few key changes.
HB 1319 was amended Tuesday to ensure adults could continue to have access to flavored nicotine products.
The amended bill only authorizes stores with age restrictions — stores that check IDs at the door — to sell flavored tobacco and nicotine products, including flavored vape liquid, flavored chewing tobacco and menthol cigarettes. Convenience stores and grocery stores would be banned from selling these products.
> The video above explores how kids purchase vape products online.
“Protecting adult privilege sacrifices our children’s safety,” said House K.C. Speaker Becker (D-Boulder), a prime sponsor of the bill. “The tobacco industry is targeting our children with candy-flavored nicotine."
Rep. Mark Baisley (R-Roxborough Park) asked if regulating where the products are sold would limit teenage use of the products.
“We’re not poking at the real source of the problem,” Baisley said. “Adults, well that’s who’s buying them now, and handing them to the young folks. I’m not finding that this is the solution.”
The bill moves to a second reading in the Committee of the Whole, where the entire house will hear the bill.
If the bill passes as amended today, stores that do not have age restrictions at the door would be responsible for destroying flavored products.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS | Politics