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REVISED: <br />I ST DRAFT DATE: <br />.B. NO. <br />RELATING TO THE REGULATION OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS. <br />BE IT EXACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII: <br />1 <br />2 SECTION 1. The legislature finds that tobacco use remains the <br />3 leading cause of preventable death in the United States and in <br />4 Hawaii. Recent years have brought a precipitous increase in <br />5 consumer sales of electronic smoking devices, sometimes called <br />6 "vapes", and one inhalation of these products can contain many <br />7 times more nicotine than a conventional cigarette. Electronic <br />8 smoking devices have played a major role in increased rates of <br />9 youth nicotine addiction, which had been previously on the <br />10 decline. <br />11 <br />12 This increased youth tobacco prompted Hawaii to adopt laws to <br />13 increase the smoking age to 21 years old, and treat electronic <br />14 cigarettes in the same manner as the state treats conventional <br />15 cigarettes for purposes of clean indoor air laws. The state and <br />16 the County of Hawaii, County of Maui, and City and County of <br />17 Honolulu have also adopted policies to ban smoking - including <br />18 electronic cigarette use - at state and county beaches and <br />19 parks. <br />20 <br />21 In 2018, in order to ensure uniform regulation's on tobacco <br />22 sales, the legislature passed Act 206, which, in part, declared <br />23 the sale of cigarettes, tobacco products, and electronic smoking <br />24 devices a matter of statewide concern, and nullified any <br />25 existing local ordinances or policies that restricted the'sale <br />26 of these products. However, the legislature finds that since the <br />27 Act's passage, youth tobacco use has continued to increase to <br />28 epidemic levels. According to the 2019 Hawaii Youth Risk <br />29 Behavior Survey, thirty-one per cent of middle school students <br />