Smoking Age Change on the Move

Smokers in New Mexico would hopefully pick up the habit later in life—or not at all—if a bill to increase the legal age to buy tobacco passes the New Mexico Legislature.

Senate Bill 131, which would create the Tobacco Products Act, earned a do pass recommendation from the House Health and Human Services Committee this morning on a vote of 7-1.

The bill could next move to the House floor for a final vote before heading to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who says she would sign it. The bill would adopt a framework for licensing of tobacco manufactures, wholesalers and retailers along increasing the age to purchase tobacco to 21 in an effort to curb youth vaping and tobacco use.

This time, representatives in the audience from the state Department of Health, New Mexico State Police and the American Heart Association all showed support for the bill.

The New Mexico legislation would level up on a federal smoking-age increase that went into effect in December by creating a licensing and enforcement mechanism, and backers say it would make New Mexico the first state to have a comprehensive regulatory act for e-cigarettes and e-liquids.

Only Rep. Zachary Cook, R-Ruidoso, voted against the measure in committee. He owns a small grocery store and worries that the added regulations would make it more difficult for small businesses in rural New Mexico to stay open. Sen. Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, voted in favor but also said she worried about the regulations hurting a convenience store she owns in Magdalena.

Sen. Deborah Armstrong, D-Albuquerque, said that the application and renewal fees were reduced by $100 because of working in "good faith" with the tobacco industry. Reducing and removing fees was one of their requests.

The rules would go into effect on July 1, 2021.

Some of the details are still in the wind, however. The bill is similar to House Bill 195, which passed through the Health and Human Services Committee on Feb. 5 and is also in line for the House floor. The House version has a later start date and fewer criminal sanctions.

Jennifer Abbots, communications representative for the House, tells SFR that HB 195 is a "priority" and she believes that both versions might be heard before the end of the session. She says the Senate version will get the same support as the House version. HB 195 is already on the floor agenda.

Lujan Grisham says she is supportive of both bills.

According to Andrew Vallejos, the director of the Alcoholic Beverage Division, whose department would oversee implementation and enforcement if the bill is passed, some of the criminal penalties for selling to people under 21 years old were removed in the House version.

The House bill would charge a business owner with a misdemeanor, not an individual worker who is caught selling tobacco to someone under 21. But in the House bill a retailer can't be prosecuted for giving out samples to an underage person or not putting a sign in the store next to tobacco products signaling the fee and misdemeanor.

The House bill also contains lower application and renewal fees than the Senate versions.

Both bills contain administrative penalties for licensed wholesalers, retailers and manufacturers. For example, if a licensee sells tobacco products to a minor four times within three years, their license would be revoked permanently.

People under the age of 21 could still sell tobacco products in both bills.

State epidemiologist Michael Landen said the law change was important because New Mexico youth are showing an increased interest in tobacco products. The most recent Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey showed up to one-third of students in middle school use vapes or e-cigs, compared to 25% in prior years.

Neither bill would effect businesses that manufacture or sell tobacco products on Native land, although the pueblos still have to follow federal law.

This story is part of the "Your New Mexico Government" Project (#YourNMgov), a collaboration between New Mexico PBS, KUNM Radio, and the Santa Fe Reporter. This endeavor is funded by the New Mexico Local Journalism Fund with public media support provided by the Thornburg Foundation.