Virginia bill would overhaul vape shop oversight
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Legislation headed to Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger would give officials more tools to crack down on vape shops, the state attorney general said this week.
Why it matters: These shops have proliferated across the state, and some are selling illegal vape products, including to children.
State of play: The Vape Enforcement Act, which overwhelmingly passed both chambers of the General Assembly this year, would shift oversight of tobacco sales, including vapes, from the Department of Taxation to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority.
- The bill would also require retail sellers of tobacco and vape products to register with the state and submit to routine inspections of their stores to ensure they're not selling illegal products.
- Both provisions would help strengthen enforcement efforts and close the loopholes that have allowed the sale of illegal vape products to proliferate, including to children, state Attorney General Jay Jones said this week.
- Stores that sell tobacco or vape products without a permit would be subject to steep fines, as would shops that refuse to allow inspections or sell to children, per the legislation.
What they're saying: "You can walk into middle schools across the Commonwealth and see it. Teachers are confiscating vapes from bathrooms. Kids are sharing them," Jones said at a press conference about the Vape Enforcement Act this week.
Threat level: Officials at the presser pointed to VCU forensic toxicology research that shows that vape pens collected from Virginia K-12 schools increasingly contain cannabis, harmful chemicals and ethanol, in addition to nicotine.
- And many of the teens say they're buying their vapes directly from stores.
Stunning stat: Of the roughly 1,300 confiscated vapes the VCU research team tested last year, less than 0.1% of the products were authorized for sale by the FDA, per VCU.
Yes, but: Enforcement can have drawbacks, too.
The city of Richmond's enforcement push, Operation Vaporize, is on pause amid criticism from some shop owners that it unfairly targets them due to a few bad actors and leaves their stores vulnerable to theft, per The Richmonder.
- Between mid-December and early March, when the city hit pause, 67 shops were inspected and 42 were closed due to zoning, building or safety code violations, city spokesperson Mira Signer tells Axios.
- The placards, or orange stickers, the city has slapped on shops with violations have served as beacons for thieves.
- This year through March 17, there were 19 vape-shop break-ins in Richmond, 16 of which involved 12 shops shut down by Operation Vaporize, WTVR reports. For all of last year, there were only 20 vape-shop break-ins.
What's next: Spanberger has until April 13 to act on legislation passed this year.
- And Operation Vaporize is set to resume in early April, Signer says.