RICHMOND, Va. — Advocates are hoping that Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger will sign legislation they said will help crackdown on the sale of tobacco and vape products to people under 21 and take illegal vape products off the shelves. But those in the industry argue it creates a financial burden for small store owners and could leave to some closing.
If approved as written, HB308/SB620 would transfer oversight of licensing from the Department of Taxation to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (ABC) and require most stores that sell tobacco or vape products to pay for an annual permit to do so (stores that only sell cigars or pipe tobacco are exempt).
The funding from those permits would create positions within ABC for agents who would be tasked with conducting underage buy operations at least once every two years at each permitted location to ensure they are not selling to people under the age of 21. Enforcement will also be handled by the Office of the Attorney General (AG).
"I think every parent understands this. Anybody that's in the school system understands this," said Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-Henrico), one of the bill's sponsors and a high school teacher. "We thought we had defeated minors and tobacco, and we largely have, and unfortunately, vapes have really come in."
According to The Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth 2024 annual report, since "2001, high school smoking rates in Virginia have dropped from 28.6% to 2%." But, the foundation said that in the 2023 Virginia Youth Survey, 8.1% of high school students reported using e-cigarettes/vapes in a 2023 (although, they noted this was a decrease from the 14.3% who reported using them in 2021).
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones said it also gives his office and ABC stronger tools to enforce 2024 legislation that said stores can only sell certified vape products registered with his office — which has 190 currently listed.
"The fact is, vape shops have been allowed to get away with selling unregulated products with documented negative health consequences, not only to adults, but to minors, and they do so without penalty," said Jones.
The legislation creates several levels of penalties for violations and could rise to the level of a permit being revoked for repeat offenders.
"By creating this license, you're bringing everybody into the system and it will allow the AG and ABC to really go and make sure that the honest actors are good and the dishonest actors, the people who are selling illegally to minors or selling illegal products to make sure they go out of business," added VanValkenburg.
Enforcement of the vape product registry had been paused by an injunction as part of a federal lawsuit, but last week Jones sent a letter to manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to tell them the injunction had been lifted and his office is recommending his office and localities can begin enforcing the law under its current mechanism starting on April 1, 2026.
"Retailers, distributors and manufacturers found to be selling liquid nicotine or nicotine vapor products not included in the directory in violation of Va. Code § 59.1-293.20 are subject to a fine of $1,000 per product per day, until such product is either removed from the market or properly listed in the directory," wrote Jones.
Different industry groups are opposed to proposed law for different reasons.
Tony Abboud with the Vapor Technology Association said his group welcomes the permitting to prevent underage sales, but is opposed to the inclusion of the 2024 vaping products law.
"If the state of Virginia is going to end up eliminating 99% of all vaping products that are available for Virginians under the existing law, then what's the point of implementing a licensing and registration scheme? Because all of those businesses that they think they're going to be licensing and registering are going to have to shut down," said Abboud.
He said the majority of products on the AG's list are older ones, owned by major tobacco companies and that by removing the other products it will take away options from Virginians who might be using them to stop smoking (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said e-cigarettes "may have the potential to benefit adults" as a complete substitute for smoked tobacco, but added "no e-cigarette has been approved by the FDA as a smoking cessation aid").
"That is going to be a problem, not only for Virginia small businesses, which don't sell those particular products from 2016 but also for Virginia consumers who won't have access. And so, their options are — go across the border and get them from other people from other states or get them on a black market."
But, Michael O'Connor, president of the Virginia Petroleum and Convenience Marketers Association, said his group is opposed to the new permit requirements.
He said youth smoking rates have been declining for decades and the rate of underage sales by Virginia stores is at 9%, below the limit of 20% to be eligible for federal grants. He said this legislation may have been useful 20 years ago, but now is "unjustified."
"It's also saying the new bureaucracy that's being created here with new fees is going to go out to each door once in every 24 months, when it should be those locations that have been problematic in the past. Those are the ones that should be targeted first, rather than those are in compliance," said O'Connor. "We heard a lot about affordability being a big part of the past legislative session. This legislation is not about affordability for the convenience store industry. With a new tax of $400 or $300 a year and a new tax to be imposed every year thereafter as set by a bureaucracy and we don't think that's right."
But VanValkenburg said the legislation is needed to get a better understanding of where tobacco products are sold in the state and ensure illegal ones are not being sold and if stores comply, there will not be an issue.
"Everybody's going to get inspected. If you're following the rules, you're good to go. If you're selling illegal products or if you're illegally selling to minors, you're not good to go," said VanValkenburg.
Gov. Spanberger has until April 13th to act on this legislation. If it is approved, the law would not take effect until October 1.
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