H.R. 2339 Companion Bill Introduced in the Senate

S. 3174, known also as the “Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2020”, was introduced in the Senate on Jan. 9, 2020. This bill, introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH.), is the companion bill to the U.S. House of Representative’s H.R. 2339, a bill that seeks to place restrictions on flavored tobacco products and e-cigarettes while offering slight relief to premium cigar manufacturers–at a cost.

S. 3174 aims to accomplish many of the same things as the House’s bill does. It sets out to ban flavored tobacco products, meaning any tobacco product that contains a flavor other than tobacco; it places the same advertising restrictions that cigarettes face on all tobacco products; it also seeks to prohibit all sales of tobacco and vapor products that aren’t done face-to-face, including catalogs, phone sales and all online sales; and it seeks to increase user fees. Unlike the U.S. House of Representative bill, however, S. 3174 doesn’t include any sort of premium cigar exemption.

Continue Reading On: Tobacco Business Magazine