http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/category/federal.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://blogs.federaltimes.com/federal-times-blog/2009/11/20/a-smoke-free-outdoors/ http://tobacco.org/news/293101.html Rep. Eliot Engel is trying again to ban smoking near federal buildings. The New York Democrat unsuccessfully introduced a bill during the last Congress to ban smoking within 25 feet of any federal building’s entrances, exits, windows that can be opened and ventilation intakes. Engel reintroduced the bill Nov. 18 to correspond with the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smoke Out smoking-cessation campaign. The Surgeon General reported in 2006 that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. One step we can take in limiting such exposure is to free the entrances of buildings of the clouds of smoke often found when smokers gather outside of entrances and exits. The problem with this is simple – how else are people going to avoid secondhand smoke when the only ways in and out of a building is blocked by smoke?" The bill would clarify various levels of guidance involving smoking near federal buildings. Federal Times Blog dlindsey@atpco.com Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/coalition-to-stop-contraband-tobacco-applauds-senate-judiciary-committee-for-passage-of-the-prevent-all-cigarette-trafficking-pact-act-of-2009-70549427.html http://tobacco.org/news/293029.html The Coalition to Stop Contraband Tobacco today applauded the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for its passage of S. 1147, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act of 2009. The PACT Act will close the gaps in current federal law and will help combat the illegal sales of cigarettes and other tobacco products. "We are gratified by the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote today approving S. 1147, the PACT Act," said Scott Ramminger, president of the American Wholesale Marketers Association, a member of the coalition. "The overwhelming bipartisan vote in the House, the diverse groups supporting this legislation and now the Senate Judiciary Committee's action speak clearly of the need for this important legislation." Internet and other "remote" sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products have significant adverse consequences by undercutting state laws that prevent youth access to tobacco. Additionally these sales circumvent applicable state taxes and states lose substantial tax revenues. PR Newswire Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.csnews.com/csn/cat_management/tobacco/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004044695 http://tobacco.org/news/293028.html With unanimous support, S. 1147, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT Act) was approved yesterday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and will head to the full Senate. If passed, the bill would prevent illegal untaxed cigarette trafficking and access to tobacco products by youth by prohibiting online and mail-order sales of tobacco. If the bill is signed into law, its regulations would go into effect 90 days following the enactment by the president, according to the version passed yesterday by the committee. Convenience Store News Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.nacsonline.com/NACS/News/Daily/Pages/ND1120092.aspx http://tobacco.org/news/293026.html The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved legislation yesterday that will help combat online cigarette sales and prevent youth access to tobacco products. The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act closes gaps in current federal laws regulating “remote” or “delivery” sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. The bill enhances penalties for violations and provides law enforcement with new tools to combat the innovative methods being used by cigarette traffickers to distribute their products. “Tobacco smuggling has developed into a popular, and highly profitable, means of generating revenue for criminal and terrorist organizations,” said Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), noting that cigarette trafficking, including the illegal sale of tobacco products over the Internet, costs states billions of dollars in lost tax revenue each year. National Association of Convenience Stores nacspoll@nacsonline.com (RSS Feed) Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://kohl.senate.gov/newsroom/pressrelease.cfm?customel_dataPageID_1464=3227 http://tobacco.org/news/292959.html The PACT Act will strengthen our tobacco laws to ensure that law enforcement has the tools they need to investigate and prosecute cigarette traffickers. Each day we delay its passage, terrorists and criminals raise more money, states lose significant amounts of tax revenue, and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the internet. This is not a minor problem. . . . The common sense approach taken in the PACT Act to combat this problem has brought together a strong coalition of supporters. The legislation has the backing of the law enforcement community, numerous public health advocates, and tobacco companies. I am optimistic that we can work together to pass this bill. U.S. Senator Herb Kohl Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-1147 http://tobacco.org/news/292958.html • This version: Introduced in Senate. This is the original text of the bill as it was written by its sponsor and submitted to the Senate for consideration. This is the latest version of the bill available on this website. . . . • (a) Short Title- This Act may be cited as the ‘Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009’ or ‘PACT Act’. • (b) Findings- Congress finds that-- • (1) the sale of illegal cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products significantly reduces Federal, State, and local government revenues, with Internet sales alone accounting for billions of dollars of lost Federal, State, and local tobacco tax revenue each year; • (2) Hezbollah, Hamas, al Qaeda, and other terrorist organizations have profited from trafficking in illegal cigarettes or counterfeit cigarette tax stamps; • (3) terrorist involvement in illicit cigarette trafficking will continue to grow because of the large profits such organizations can earn; • (4) the sale of illegal cigarettes and smokeless tobacco over the Internet, and through mail, fax, or phone orders, makes it cheaper and easier for children to obtain tobacco products; • (5) the majority of Internet and other remote sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco are being made without adequate precautions to protect against sales to children, without the payment of applicable taxes, and without complying with the nominal registration and reporting requirements in existing Federal law; • (6) unfair competition from illegal sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco is taking billions of dollars of sales away from law-abiding retailers throughout the United States; • (7) with rising State and local tobacco tax rates, the incentives for the illegal sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco have increased; • (8) the number of active tobacco investigations being conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives rose to 452 in 2005; • (9) the number of Internet vendors in the United States and in foreign countries that sell cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to buyers in the United States increased from only about 40 in 2000 to more than 500 in 2005; and • (10) the intrastate sale of illegal cigarettes and smokeless tobacco over the Internet has a substantial effect on interstate commerce. • (c) Purposes- It is the purpose of this Act to-- • (1) require Internet and other remote sellers of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to comply with the same laws that apply to law-abiding tobacco retailers; GovTrack.us Thu, 21 May 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-1147&tab=summary http://tobacco.org/news/292957.html 5/21/2009--Introduced. Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 or PACT Act - Amends the Jenkins Act to: (1) include smokeless tobacco as a regulated substance; (2) impose shipping and recordkeeping requirements on delivery sellers (sellers using the telephone, mails, or the Internet) of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco; (3) require common carriers of cigarette products to obtain age and identity verification upon delivery of such products; (4) require the Attorney General to compile and publish a list of delivery sellers of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco who have not complied with the registration or other requirements of such Act; (5) increase criminal penalties and impose new civil penalties for violations of this Act; and (6) grant jurisdiction to U.S. district courts to prevent and restrain violations of this Act and direct the Attorney General to administer and enforce this Act. Amends the federal criminal code to: (1) treat cigarettes and smokeless tobacco as nonmailable and prohibit such items from being deposited in or carried through the U.S. mails (with specified exceptions, including for mailings for consumer testing); and (2) authorize officers of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to enter the premises of certain cigarette shippers to inspect records and inventories. Prohibits a tobacco product manufacturer or importer from selling or delivering in states cigarettes not in compliance with model or qualifying state statutes. Limits the applicability of this Act with respect to Indian tribes and certain tribal matters. Directs the ATF Director to create regional contraband tobacco trafficking teams and a Tobacco Intelligence Center to monitor and coordinate tobacco diversion investigations. Expresses the sense of Congress with respect to the precedential effect of this Act. GovTrack.us Thu, 21 May 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4177 http://tobacco.org/news/292956.html II. Bills . . . S.1147, Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 (Kohl, Leahy, Schumer, Specter, Feinstein, Klobuchar) U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-1147 http://tobacco.org/news/292954.html This is a bill in the U.S. Congress originating in the Senate ("S."). A bill must be passed by both the Senate and House and then be signed by the President before it becomes law. Bill numbers restart from 1 every two years. Each two-year cycle is called a session of Congress. This bill was created in the 111th Congress, in 2009-2010. The titles of bills are written by the bill's sponsor and are a part of the legislation itself. GovTrack does not editorialize bill summaries. . . . Sponsor: Sen. Herbert Kohl [D-WI]show cosponsors (13) Cosponsors: Robert Casey [D-PA] Richard Durbin [D-IL] Dianne Feinstein [D-CA] Kirsten Gillibrand [D-NY] Thomas Harkin [D-IA] John Kerry [D-MA] Amy Klobuchar [D-MN] Patrick Leahy [D-VT] Mark Pryor [D-AR] Charles Schumer [D-NY] Arlen Specter [D-PA] Mark Warner [D-VA] Jim Webb [D-VA] . . . Last Action: Nov 19, 2009: Committee on the Judiciary. Date of scheduled consideration. SD-226. 10:00 a.m. GovTrack.us Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.coalitiontostopcontrabandtobacco.com/pact-act-qa http://tobacco.org/news/292953.html As tobacco product excise taxes increase, so do the prices of tobacco products. Criminal organizations exploit these increases by selling contraband or counterfeit tobacco products for their own financial gain and without regard to youth access prevention laws. This illicit activity deprives governments of tax revenue and hurts law-abiding businesses. Law enforcement groups, trade associations, health care advocates and the states have been advocating for the passage of legislation to combat illegal Internet sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco a number of years. The Senate is currently considering S.1147 – the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (“PACT Act”), which would impose new restrictions on Internet cigarette and smokeless tobacco sales. This legislation will help States recover revenues at a time when they need it most, ensure appropriate age verification, and restore a level competitive environment for the law-abiding wholesalers and retailers throughout the United States who pay their taxes and play by the rules. The PACT Act is an important step in addressing the larger issue of stopping the trade of contraband tobacco. The PACT Act is strongly supported by a broad array of advocates. Earlier this year, the House passed the PACT Act by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 397 to 11. Since 2002, both houses have passed the PACT Act on multiple occasions. Opposition to the PACT Act arises mainly from a few owners and operators of cigarette Internet sites – the sites that engage in the very activity that has robbed states of hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes and that has taken enormous business from legitimate retailers and wholesalers. Congress should reject these arguments, and do so based on a clear and accurate understanding of what the PACT Act will do for the states, for retailers and wholesalers, for law enforcement, and for the broad array of other stakeholders who strongly support it. Below are a series of questions and answers intended to clarify why the PACT Act should be enacted. [Top] Coalition to Stop Contraband Tobacco Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.coalitiontostopcontrabandtobacco.com/sites/default/files/11-17_CTSCT_press_release-FINAL.pdf http://tobacco.org/news/292951.html Representatives of law enforcement groups, public health organizations and trade associations today gathered on Capitol Hill to urge the Senate to pass S. 1147, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 (PACT Act). This legislation will help combat online cigarette sales that have robbed hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues from the states and that undermine state laws that prevent youth access to tobacco products. This bill closes gaps in current federal laws regulating “remote” or “delivery” sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. These organizations were joined by Sen. Herb Kohl (D‐WI) and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D‐NY), advocates of combating illegal cigarette sales. Numerous stakeholders have worked with Sen. Kohl through the years to pass the PACT Act, which was passed in the House of Representatives this May. “The PACT Act will strengthen our tobacco laws to ensure that law enforcement has the tools they need to investigate and prosecute cigarette traffickers, said Sen. Kohl. “Each day we delay its passage, terrorists and criminals raise more money, states lose significant amounts of tax revenue, and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the internet.” . . . Organizations represented at the press conference included the National Association of Convenience Stores, American Wholesale Marketers Association, National Black Police Association and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. . . . The American Wholesale Marketers Association also released its latest findings from a study it conducted examining the prevalence of illegal Internet cigarette sales and the cost to the country. In the study AWMA found the cost to states in illegal cigarette sales could be upwards of $5 billion per year, and that with online sales there is almost no age verification at the time of purchase. Coalition to Stop Contraband Tobacco Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.csnews.com/csn/cat_management/tobacco/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004044303 http://tobacco.org/news/292949.html The Coalition to Stop Contraband Tobacco -- a group made up of several trade associations, public officials and a unit of a major tobacco company, among others -- gathered on Capitol Hill yesterday to urge the Senate to pass S. 1147, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act of 2009. If passed, the legislation will help combat online sales of untaxed cigarette and smokeless tobacco products, and help prevent youth access to tobacco. It closes gaps in current federal laws regulating "remote" or "delivery" sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products, according to the organization. The PACT Act was passed in the House in May, and the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to discuss the bill today. Some trade association members of the Coalition to Stop Contraband Tobacco include NACS, AWMA, FMI, NATO, NATSO, PMAA and SIGMA. Altria Client Services, a division of Altria Group, is also a member of the coalition on behalf of Philip Morris USA and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. Convenience Store News Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/38696/ http://tobacco.org/news/292939.html The illegal sale of tobacco products through the Internet leads to tax evasion and tobacco use by young people, members of Congress and merchants said Tuesday. The Coalition to Stop Contraband Tobacco urged the Senate to pass a bill that would address the issue. The bill is scheduled for a vote Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Each day we delay its passage, terrorists and criminals raise more money, states lose significant amounts of tax revenue, and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the Internet," said Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., who sponsored the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act. Kansas City infoZine Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.goupstate.com/article/20091118/ARTICLES/911181003/1128/OPINION?Title=A-moving-target&tc=autorefresh http://tobacco.org/news/292890.html When the federal government raised the tax on the loose tobacco people use to roll their own cigarettes a staggering 2,000 percent, companies stopped selling "loose tobacco." Smokers stopped buying it. Very little of the projected tax revenue of $35 million per month appeared. Yet smokers still roll their own cigarettes and still legally buy the ingredients. Pipe tobacco is taxed at a rate of $2.83 per pound. Loose cigarette tobacco is now taxed at $24.78 per pound. . . . Again and again we see that taxes meant to change the behavior of the taxed backfire. They rarely raise the revenue their proponents promise, generally don't cause people to act as predicted and often create unintended consequences. The fairer a tax is, the harder it is to evade. . . . Seemingly incapable of learning, the federal government is now looking to set stricter legal distinctions between pipe and cigarette tobacco in an attempt to collect its money. Unmentioned is the issue of why the tax on one should be 10 times the tax on the other. Perhaps government policymakers think pipes are cool and intellectual, and home-rolled cigarettes are just uncouth. If so, that's a poor rationale for tax policy. Spartanburg Herald-Journal Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.news-tribune.net/letters/local_story_320203009.html http://tobacco.org/news/292883.html Here's what needs to be done here in the United States: President Obama made a statement that on Nov. 19 -- The Great American Smoke-out date -- he is going to quit smoking, and he said, "America, please join me in quitting one of the most disgusting addictions the world has ever known. Let's all quit together and spend our money and time helping ourselves to become better citizens of the world. With addiction, we lose our ability to freely make choices. I long for my former freedom and I'm sure you do too. Nov. 19th is the date. Let's regain our original freedom from tobacco. Please join me in quitting smoking. Sincerely, President Obama." News-Tribune.net Evening News) newsroom@newsandtribune.com (Jamey Aebersold, New Albany ) Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT