| Bill Number |
Description/Tobacco Prevention Program Action |
Status (as of 3/22/11) |
| HB 1246/SB 5380 |
Regulating Tobacco Products: This proposed legislation has three components: (1) restrict tobacco sales to behind the counter; (2) ban the sale of flavored tobacco products; and (3) repeal the preemption component of the youth access law which would allow local jurisdictions (county councils, city councils and/or boards of health) to have local control over tobacco policies. Dr. Fleming, Director and Health Officer for Public Health - Seattle & King County, testified in support of this bill in both the House and Senate policy committees. |
Failed to pass out of committee |
| SHB 1683/ SB 5542 |
Establishing special license endorsements for cigar lounges and retail tobacconist shops: Allowing for exemptions in the current smoking in public places law, this legislation would require cigar lounges and tobacconist shops to apply for licenses to allow cigar smoking. Gary Johnson, Prevention Manager for Public Health - Seattle & King County, testified against this bill in the House and Senate policy committees and also in the Senate Ways and Means committee. |
In Senate Ways and Means committee |
| ESSB 5039 |
Concerning insurance coverage of tobacco cessation treatment in the preventative benefit required under the federal law: All licensed individual and group insurance plans renewed on or after January 1, 2012 must cover a minimum of two courses of tobacco cessation treatment in a 12-month period. Services must include counseling and over-the-counter medication and prescription drugs approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A course of treatment is defined to mean: (1) at least four sessions of counseling with each session lasting at least ten minutes; or (2) the duration of treatment approved by the FDA for each prescription or over-the-counter medication. The Tobacco Prevention Program supports this bill as it would increase access to tobacco cessation resources. |
Passed Senate; in House Health Care & Wellness committee |
| SB 5016 |
Prohibits smoking in vehicles containing children under the age of 18: With Washington's Smoking in Public Places law, homes and cars are the biggest areas of exposure to secondhand smoke in the state. This bill prohibits a person from smoking a lighted pipe, cigar or cigarette in a moving or parked motor vehicle containing any passengers under the age of eighteen years. The bill was heard in the Senate Committee on Transportation and was subsequently reassigned to the Senate Committee on Health and Long Term Care where it was not assigned a hearing. The Tobacco Prevention Program supports this bill as it would reduce youth exposure to secondhand smoke and reduce consumption of cigarettes. |
Failed to pass out of committee |
