HB 1260 is the Georgia PMTA Registry Law.  It has been introduced and assigned to the House Committee on Regulated Industries. Click here or on the call-to-action banner above to visit CASAA and use their customizable email template to make your voice heard.

• CASAA has learned that HB 1260 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee on
  Thursday, March 14, 2024
  2:00 PM
• Take Action and Call Committee Members TODAY!
  (Talking points are provided below)

Bill Cowsert – (404) 463-1366
Carden Summers – (404) 656-6922
John F. Kennedy – (404) 656-6578
John Albers – (404) 463-8055
Tonya Anderson – (404) 463-2598
Matt Brass – (404) 656-0057
Gloria Butler – (404) 656-0075
Greg Dolezal – (404) 656-0040
Frank Ginn – (404) 656-9222
Steve Gooch – (404) 656-9221
Ed Harbison – (404) 656-0074
David Lucas – (404) 656-0150
Michael ‘Doc’ Rhett – (404) 656-0054

Please also take a minute to send an email to your lawmakers urging them to oppose HB 1260!

Georgia Vape Registry

Under the Georgia PMTA Registry Bill, all vape products released after 2016 will be barred. This means every popular disposable will be gone, leaving Vuse, Juul and MyBlu with a virtual monopoly.

A recent FDA study showed that flavor bans increase cigarette sales. This law flies in the face of that science and would leave less popular artificial-tobacco flavors as the only option.

Youth vaping rates have fallen every year since 2019 yet these laws represent the most aggressive attempt yet to kill the independent vape industry and deny adult vapers access to their preferred products and flavors. 

What if Georgia HF 1260 Passes?

If enacted, Georgia HB 1260 law would effectively make the state of Georgia an enforcement arm of the Food and Drug Administration empowering state authorities to enforce the disastrous federal anti-vaping regulations.

Only a few obsolete nicotine vaping products have received full PMTA approval from the FDA and the entire process is under fire. While the most popular Big Tobacco manufactured products and Juul have also not received approval, they would be permitted due to the wording of the law. More cost-effective disposable vapes, still sold in the flavors that adult vapers prefer, would be barred.

This law would put independent vape shops out of business, force convenience stores to sell expensive and lower margin tobacco flavored products, put hundreds of workers out of jobs, and force thousands of adult vapers to choose between less-appealing artificial tobacco flavored pods and combustible cigarettes. Both being manufactured by the tobacco industry.

CRITICISMS OF PMTA REGISTRY BILLS

1. Structured so that the tobacco industry’s vape products remain on market, despite also not having received PMTA authorization, while barring their less expensive competition.
2. Serves as a flavor ban, denying adult vapers the flavors they prefer. An FDA funded study found cigarette sales increase in areas with flavor bans.
3. Bars easy to use disposable vapes, which are ideal for initiates and not coincidentally compete head-to-head with prefilled pod kits made by Big Tobacco.
4. Harms small businesses, vape shops and convenience stores, by removing high-volume and profitable products while leaving lower margin tobacco industry vapes on shelves.
5. Contrary to spirit of consumer choice and entrepreneurship, barring products released after 2016.

GEORGIANS Will PAY FOR BIG TOBACCO MONOPOLY

The price difference between independent vape industry products and those made by Big Tobacco is staggering. It costs over $200 to vape 30ml of e-liquid from a Vuse Alto. For Juul users, that cost increases to nearly $350 per 30ml.

A Lost Mary MT15000 Turbo costs a $63 to vape the same amount of e-liquid. The difference for the average user can equal a car lease or student loan payment. 

This table does not even account for the fact that a legally enforced monopoly will provide the tobacco industry with the freedom to raise prices further. What is the worst that can happen? Profitable cigarettes sold in place of vapes?

Consumer freedom, choice, and your pocketbook will take a huge hit if the Georgia Vape Sales Ban is to pass.