[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4273 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4273

To prohibit the sale or distribution of tobacco products to individuals 
                          under the age of 21.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 7, 2017

 Ms. DeGette (for herself, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Engel, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. 
 Garamendi, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Blumenauer, and Ms. Gabbard) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit the sale or distribution of tobacco products to individuals 
                          under the age of 21.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tobacco to 21 Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Tobacco use has caused more than 20,800,000 premature 
        deaths in the United States since the Surgeon General's first 
        report on smoking in 1964.
            (2) The 1964 Surgeon General's report linked cigarette 
        smoking to cancer, and since then, other tobacco products, 
        including cigars, cigarillos, roll-your-own products, and 
        smokeless tobacco have been causally linked to cancer.
            (3) While substantial gains have been made since 1964, 
        tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in 
        the United States, responsible for more than 480,000 premature 
        deaths each year.
            (4) Tobacco use costs the United States approximately 
        $170,000,000,000 in direct medical costs and $156,000,000,000 
        in lost productivity every year.
            (5) More than 36,000,000 people in the United States still 
        smoke, and the tobacco industry continues to challenge tobacco 
        control measures in court, manipulate products to evade 
        existing regulations, introduce new and dangerous tobacco 
        products, and spend billions on marketing to deceive the public 
        and addict more children.
            (6) An estimated 5,600,000 youth aged 17 and under are 
        projected to die prematurely from a tobacco-related illness if 
        prevalence rates do not change.
            (7) Each day in the United States, nearly 2,500 youth under 
        18 years of age smoke their first cigarette.
            (8) Use of tobacco products in any form is not safe, 
        especially during adolescence, as such use can lead to nicotine 
        dependence and subsequent tobacco-related diseases and death.
            (9) Adolescents are especially vulnerable to the effects of 
        nicotine and nicotine addiction and appear to show signs of 
        nicotine addiction at lower levels of exposure compared to 
        adults.
            (10) Nicotine exposure during adolescence may have lasting 
        adverse consequences on brain development. According to the 
        Surgeon General, the use of products containing nicotine in any 
        form among youth, including in electronic cigarettes, is 
        unsafe.
            (11) The likelihood of developing smoking-related cancers 
        increases with duration of smoking. Therefore, smokers that 
        start at younger ages and continue to smoke are at higher risk 
        for tobacco-related disease and death.
            (12) National data show that about 95 percent of adult 
        smokers begin smoking before they turn 21. The ages of 18 to 21 
        are a critical period when many smokers move from experimental 
        smoking to regular, daily use.
            (13) Three-quarters of people of the United States favor 
        raising the tobacco age of sale to 21 years, including 7 in 10 
        smokers.
            (14) Each year, nearly 500,000 youth aged 12 to 17 use 
        smokeless tobacco for the first time, and young adults aged 18 
        to 24 use smokeless products at twice the rate of older adults 
        aged 45 to 64.
            (15) Electronic cigarettes are the most commonly used 
        tobacco product among youth. According to the Surgeon General's 
        2016 report on electronic cigarettes, electronic cigarette use 
        is strongly associated with the use of other tobacco products 
        among youth and young adults.
            (16) The 2015 report of the National Academy of Medicine 
        entitled, ``Public Health Implications of Raising the Minimum 
        Age of Legal Access to Tobacco Products'', concluded that 
        raising the minimum legal age of sale of tobacco products 
        nationwide will reduce tobacco initiation, particularly among 
        adolescents aged 15 to 17, and will improve health across the 
        lifespan and save lives. Specifically, the report said that 
        raising the minimum legal age of sale of tobacco products 
        nationwide to age 21 would, over time, lead to a 12-percent 
        decrease in smoking prevalence.
            (17) The National Academy of Medicine report also predicts 
        that raising the minimum legal age of sale of tobacco products 
        nationwide to age 21 would result in 223,000 fewer premature 
        deaths, 50,000 fewer deaths from lung cancer, and 4,200,000 
        fewer years of life lost for those born between 2000 and 2019. 
        In addition, the report concluded that raising the minimum 
        legal age of sale would result in near immediate reductions in 
        preterm birth, low birth weight, and sudden infant death 
        syndrome.
            (18) Regulating the retail environment, actively enforcing 
        laws, and educating retailers are strategies that Federal, 
        State, and local governments can take to restrict the 
        availability of tobacco products to youth.
            (19) Five States, the District of Columbia, and more than 
        230 localities in an additional 13 States have raised the 
        minimum legal tobacco sale age to 21.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION AND ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
including any Federal regulation, it shall be unlawful to sell or 
distribute a tobacco product to anyone under the age of 21.
    (b) Enforcement.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services 
        is authorized to enforce the prohibition under subsection (a) 
        and shall take necessary action to enforce such prohibition, 
        including, as appropriate--
                    (A) conducting undercover compliance checks, 
                performing retailer inspections, initiating enforcement 
                actions for noncompliance, and taking any other 
                measures appropriate to help ensure nationwide 
                compliance with such prohibition; and
                    (B) establishing requirements that retailers check 
                identification or use other methods to ensure 
                compliance with subsection (a), or issuing guidance 
                concerning the responsibility of retailers to ensure 
                such compliance.
            (2) Enforcement authority.--In the case of a violation of 
        subsection (a), the Secretary of Health and Human Services may 
        apply the penalties under section 303 of the Federal Food, 
        Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 333), as though such 
        subsection (a) were a regulation promulgated under section 
        906(d)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 
        U.S.C. 387f(d)(1)), notwithstanding paragraph (3)(A)(ii) of 
        such section 906(d).
    (c) Definition.--In this Act, the term ``tobacco product'' has the 
meaning given such term in section 201(rr) of the Federal Food, Drug, 
and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321(rr)).

SEC. 4. NON-PREEMPTION.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent a State or local 
governmental entity from establishing, enforcing, or maintaining a law 
with respect to sales of tobacco to individuals below a minimum age, 
provided that such State or local law is at least as restrictive as the 
Federal law.
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