Report Title:

Cigarette; Reduced Circumference; Prohibitions; Fines

 

Description:

Prohibits the sale or distribution of cigarettes having a reduced circumference smaller than that of a standard cigarette circumference of twenty-five millimeters and imposes fines.  (SD1)

 

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	779
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO CIGARETTES.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that cigarette sales in the United States have been falling since 1998.  To hold market share, tobacco companies have launched an array of smoking products.  One new product offers "purse packs" that are cigarettes packaged in a box approximately the size of a single lipstick package that contain super slim or ultra slim cigarettes ‑‑ cigarettes having a reduced circumference smaller than that of a standard cigarette circumference of twenty-five millimeters.  These "purse packs" were initially marketed in the United States on October 9, 2008, by Philip Morris USA.

     According to the American Legacy Foundation, Virginia Slims Super Slims Lights and Super Slims Ultra Lights, which are packaged in pink and teal-colored lipstick-sized packs of twenty cigarettes that are smaller in circumference than normal cigarettes, are clearly designed to appeal to teenage girls.  The American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, American Medical Association, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and two dozen other health and women's groups have protested the pink and teal purse packs and demanded their removal from shelves, saying their introduction and marketing demonstrate that Philip Morris USA shows contempt for women and their health by putting a pink gloss on a product that causes lung cancer and heart disease, two of the leading killers of women.

     The purpose of this Act is to prohibit the sale or distribution, in Hawaii, of cigarettes having a reduced circumference smaller than that of a standard cigarette circumference of twenty-five millimeters.

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 245, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§245‑    Cigarettes; reduced circumference; sale or distribution prohibited; fines.  (a)  No cigarette having a reduced circumference smaller than that of a standard cigarette circumference of twenty-five millimeters, may be sold or distributed within the State or imported into the State.

     (b)  Any person violating this section shall be subject to a fine of not more than $          .  A second or subsequent violation shall be subject to a fine of not more than $          ."

     SECTION 3.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun, before its effective date.

     SECTION 4.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.