Feb 10
Jan 13
The following tobacco-related bills were introduced today, Wednesday, January 13th, in the West Virginia Legislature:
SB 24 - Forbidding tobacco products’ sale in pharmacies
SB 55 - Granting municipal courts jurisdiction over juveniles violating tobacco use laws
SB 56 - Increasing penalties for underage use or possession of tobacco
HB 2681 - Eliminating the food tax, increasing the tax on nonintoxicating beer, increasing the cigarette tax, increasing the noncigarette tobacco products tax..etc..
HB 2746 - Raising the excise tax on cigarettes and all other tobacco products
HB 2773 - Increasing the monetary penalties for selling tobacco products to minors
HB 2808 - Providing a procedure for removal of county, district or municipal officers
HB 2855 - Permitting the holder of a license to sell nonintoxicating liquors to determine the use or nonuse of tobacco products on the licensees’ premises
HB 2932 - Requiring the approval of board of health rules relating to tobacco use in public or private places
HB 3078 - Reduced Cigarette Ignition Propensity Standard and Fire Prevention Act
All House legislation on this list are carryover bills from the 2009 session. HB 3078, while introduced today, was actually passed in 2009 as a Senate bill.
Bills are listed here for informational purposes only and no endorsement is to be implied. Clear the Air will review bills more in depth as they begin to move. To track these bills yourself visit the West Virginia Legislative website Bill Status page.
Tags: 2009 Session, bills introduced, clean indoor air, tobacco control, tobacco excise tax, West Virigina Legislature
Feb 21
Percent decrease in youth smoking ~ 10.7%
Kids in West Virginia kept from becoming addicted adult smokers ~ 13,200
Current adult smokers in the state who would quit ~ 9,200
Smoking-affected births avoided over next five years ~ 2,700
West Virginia residents saved from premature smoking-caused death ~ 6,600
5-year health savings from fewer smoking-affected pregnancies & births ~ $4.6 million
5-year health savings from fewer smoking-caused heart attacks & strokes ~ $6.1 million
Long-term health savings in state from adult & youth smoking declines ~ $318.4 million
Projections are based on research findings that each 10% cigarette price increase reduces youth smoking rates by 6.5%, adult rates by 2%, and total consumption by 4% (but adjusted down to account for tax evasion effects). Revenues still increase because the higher tax rate per pack will bring in more new revenue than is lost from the tax-related drop in total pack sales. These projections are fiscally conservative because they include a generous adjustment for lost state pack sales (and lower net new revenues) from new smuggling and tax evasion after the rate increase and from fewer sales to smokers or smugglers from other states. Kids stopped from smoking and dying are from all kids alive today. Long-term savings accrue over the lifetimes of persons who stop smoking or never start because of the rate increase. All cost and savings amounts are in 2004 dollars.
Tags: tobacco control, tobacco tax, West Virginia
Feb 17
15th Annual Tobacco-Free Day at the Capitol
Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Sponsored by the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free West Virginia
Join tobacco control and prevention advocates from throughout West Virginia at the State Capitol on March 31st to help educate our policymakers and advocate for healthy, tobacco-free communities.
West Virginia has the third highest smoking rate in the nation and leads the nation in smokeless tobacco use and smoking among pregnant women. Yet our tobacco excise tax rate ranks 42nd in the country and the state tobacco control programming receives only a fraction of the funding recommended by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. The toll of tobacco in West Virginia is a public health crisis that must be addressed by our elected officials. However, this will only happen if they know it is a concern of voters - like you!
West Virginia Tobacco-Free Day will feature exhibits and displays from various organizations and community groups from all over the state who are working to fight back against tobacco’s grip on our people, economy and health care system. There will also be plenty of time to visit your legislators and see first hand your government at work.
Joining us will be about 450 young people from across the state who are active in the RAZE program working to protect their generation from tobacco addiction.
For more information or to register for the event contact Cinny Kittle. Pre-registered participants will be invited to join in a conference call the day before the event for a briefing on the status of key tobacco and health issues.
Please show your support for a healthier West Virginia by joining us for all, or part of, Tobacco-Free Day on March 31st.
Tags: advocacy, RAZE, Tobacco-Free Day, West Virginia Legislature
Feb 12
Updates to this blog, tobacco-related news items and a wide variety of tobacco control information can be at your fingerips by following us on Twitter.
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends. Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS, or through third-party applications - many of which are designed for smart phones like Blackberry or iPhone.
If you don’t yet have a Twitter account signing up is a fast process and will take just a couple of minutes.
After you get your account just pay us a visit at TobaccoFreeWV and click “Follow”.
Tags: grassroots, tobacco control, Twitter
Jan 29
Cinny Kittle from West Virginia Hospital Association opens conference at Charleston Marriott Thursday morning.
Paul McIntyre from KIISS (Kids Involuntarily Inhaling Secondhand Smoke) discusses clean indoor air issues.
Recent Comments