The Albany County Legislature is out with a tobacco prevention package that would change the retail landscape for tobacco products.
"QUIT," the Quit Using Inhalants and Tobacco Act, would create a new retail licensing system for tobacco and vape retailers.
Under the measure, a store would need to secure a county tobacco retail license on top of its New York state license. Vapes couldn't be sold within 1,000 feet of a school.
The measure is sponsored by five Democrats including the legislature chair and District 14 representative Alison McLean Lane, who says strict regulation is needed for the sales of disposable e-cigarettes and flavored vapes.
Supporters say the bill is designed to ensure public health and safety for residents.
"These things are clogging the toilets of school districts," said McLean Lane. "Disposable e-cigarettes have a lithium ion battery in them, and they cannot be recycled, no matter what anyone says. They can only be burned, and we would actually have to mail them, collect them, and mail them to a facility where they would be burned. They're coming in from China, and the fact is, as they're illegal in China, but they're selling them to us, and we had a really good handle on the tobacco, you know, smoking, traditional tobacco smoking issue with youth. However, when this vaping and disposable e-cigarettes came along, we no longer have a handle on it, and we have to be able to gain control in some way to ensure that the high levels of nicotine that are in these things and the environmental hazard they present are no longer an issue in Albany County. And so we have to regulate these facilities."
New York Association of Convenience Stores president Alison Ritchie says the organization agrees with pieces of the proposed measure that crack down on illegal flavored vapes and vapes manufactured to resemble school supplies.
"They're designed to trick teachers and other school administrators so that kids can have them," Ritchie said. "You know, obviously [trick] parents as well. We sounded the alarm on that. NYACS was the first to do that last year. And then this year, there's a new product that came out, because they'll never stop innovating. It's a vape cartridge that actually has a high-res screen on it, and you can play video games like Tetris. And the more you use the vape, you get deals or something in the game."
But Ritchie is concerned about a provision in QUIT that would eventually reduce by half the number of licensed tobacco retailers countywide.
"If this, were to be approved, it would ultimately devalue our convenience store businesses and make them less attractive to sell compared to other businesses in, say, Rensselaer or in Schenectady County, where those convenience stores can sell with their tobacco license attached to the property," said Ritchie.
A provision of the bill would send $150,000 toward substance abuse prevention.
Capital District Tobacco-Free Communities Director Jeannie Orr addressed the county legislature during Monday's meeting. She testified that data shows nearly one in five high school students in New York reports vaping nicotine.
"Tobacco retailers in the high poverty zip codes of Albany county are more likely to be located within 1500 feet of one or more schools. Some schools like Sheridan Prep and Brighter Choice in West Hill have as many as eight and 11 licensed tobacco retailers, respectively, within 1500 feet, In 74% of the stores visited the tobacco product display took up between half and all the space behind the checkout counter," Orr said.
If approved, QUIT would become effective in January.
