House Votes To Shield Minors From Tobacco Measure Now Goes To Senate; Called ‘Step In Right Direction’

Minors’ access to tobacco products will be restricted if the Idaho Senate approves a bill passed overwhelmingly by the House Friday.

Amendments aimed at softening the blow to convenience store owners and other retailers led to a 46-21 vote in favor of the law, promoted by the Idaho Parent-Teacher Association.

“This will not stop smoking on the part of young people, we all know that,” said state Rep. Frank Bruneel, R-Lewiston. “But I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

Friday’s vote came after about two hours of debate peppered with personal experiences with tobacco and stories of loved ones lost to tobacco-related disease.

However, the focus of opposition was on whether the measure is unfair to retailers, whether it would be effective in keeping children away from tobacco and even whether that should be the state’s role.

North Idaho lawmakers also worried that the law might place store owners at a further disadvantage in competing with Indian smoke shops. Those shops could not be regulated under the House bill.

“I think we should go after the tribes and the smoke shops,” said Rep. Don Pischner, R-Coeur d’Alene. “I don’t think it’s right that they’re immune.”

Pischner voted for the bill, despite his concerns.

Rep. Shirley McKague, R-Meridian, said the proposal reminded her of Hillary Clinton’s “It Takes a Village” philosophy.

“The state should not be in the business of raising children, and neither should shopkeepers,” she said.

Even if it were a good idea, Republican Rep. Lenore Barrett of Challis said, the plan is “misdirected” because juveniles who really want cigarettes will get them no matter what, and retailers should not be punished.

“You just are not going to accomplish anything with this bill,” she said. “And if anyone in here thinks they can outsmart a kid who wants to smoke, I’ve got news for you.”

But House Speaker Michael Simpson said similar plans have worked in other states, and Idaho must correct a woeful record of illegal sales to minors. He cited U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures showing more than 24,000 Idaho residents now under 18 will prematurely die from tobacco-related illnesses.

Republican Rep. John Tippets of Bennington said tobacco has a $240 million-a-year health-care impact on Idaho and is both the state’s No. 1 killer and its most preventable cause of death. And Simpson said the tobacco industry knows that most people who smoke started before they were 19.

“Who do you think they market to?” he asked.

Simpson also said amendments made to the bill ensure it would not impose too many restrictions on businesses, and he called on lawmakers to reject pressure from retailers and the tobacco industry against the legislation.

“No matter what compromises are made, they want this dead,” the Blackfoot Republican said. “It’s time that the Idaho Legislature write Idaho’s tobacco laws and not someone else who has an interest in it.”

If the Senate agrees and Gov. Phil Batt signs it into law, the bill would ban cigarette vending machines by 2000 and require the approximately 5,000 affected retailers to put tobacco products behind counters or in locked displays to prevent minors from stealing.

It also would require the Department of Health and Welfare to conduct two random, unannounced compliance inspections per year at each business granted a free permit to sell tobacco products.

Violations by retailers with permits would bring civil penalties including fines and temporary loss of their sales permit. But only those selling tobacco products without a permit could face criminal charges.

The estimated cost of the enforcement program would be about $250,000. Simpson said there was plenty of money available through various federal programs, including $6 million a year in substance abuse prevention funds.

Amendments to the original Senate-passed bill included eliminating a $55 permit fee, removing penalties for not displaying signs warning employees not to sell tobacco to minors, and limiting Health and Welfare’s authority to overseeing permits, inspections, training and employment practices.

The governor, before a proclamation-signing in his office Friday, publicly questioned the bill’s surprise inspection requirements, which Idaho PTA lobbyist Caryn Esplin have said are the foundation of the plan.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: How they voted Here’s how North Idaho representatives voted on the tobacco products bill. John Campbell, R-Sandpoint; Don Pischner, R-Coeur d’Alene; and Jeff Alltus, R-Hayden, voted for the measure. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake; Charles Cuddy, D-Orofino; June Judd, D-St. Maries; Hilde Kellogg, R-Post Falls; Wayne Meyer, R-Rathdrum; Jim Stoicheff, D-Sandpoint; and Larry Watson, D-Wallace, voted against it.