Existing state law does not provide for comprehensive oversight or regulation of alternative nicotine products or retailers of these products.
This bill would prohibit alternative nicotine product retailers and manufacturers of alternative nicotine products from advertising alternative nicotine products near schools. This bill would also prohibit specialty retailers of alternative nicotine products from opening new places of business near schools, child care centers, churches, and other facilities. This bill would also prevent retailers and manufacturers of alternative nicotine products from advertising those products as tobacco cessation devices, as a healthy alternative to smoking, or as being available in any variety of flavors.
This bill would also require retailers of alternative nicotine products to obtain a tobacco permit, to comply with FDA regulations governing the retail sale of alternative nicotine products, and to post warning signs in their stores regarding the dangers of nicotine use and potential risks associated with vaping.
This bill would also prohibit the use of alternative nicotine products in various places, including in schools, in child care facilities, and in vehicles operated by child care facilities for the purposes of transporting children.
This bill would also prohibit the sale or transfer of alternative nicotine products to minors.
This bill would also require the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board to regulate retail sales of alternative nicotine devices like sales of tobacco products.
Amendment 621 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 111.05 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, prohibits a general law whose purpose or effect would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds from becoming effective with regard to a local governmental entity without enactment by a 2/3 vote unless: it comes within one of a number of specified exceptions; it is approved by the affected entity; or the Legislature appropriates funds, or provides a local source of revenue, to the entity for the purpose.
The purpose or effect of this bill would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds within the meaning of the amendment. However, the bill does not require approval of a local governmental entity or enactment by a 2/3 vote to become effective because it comes within one of the specified exceptions contained in the amendment.
Source: Alabama Legislature