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Vape bill all smoke and mirrors

Del. David McCormick, R-Monongalia, chose a soft target with his Vape Safety Act — House Bill 5437 — perhaps hoping state House of Delegates committee members would not look too carefully at the language he wielded or be affected by the dog whistles he was blowing.

First, it is important to acknowledge the vape shop industry SHOULD be better regulated in this state. McCormick knows most elected officials will understand that.

So, if one does not get past the basics of the bill, it might seem like something that should earn a stamp of approval. HB 5437 would require all specialty shops selling tobacco, tobacco-derived products, alternative nicotine, or vapor products and accessories to obtain a state license from the Alcohol Beverage Control Administration, which requires passing thorough criminal background checks and paying annual fees. The bill increases those fees dramatically.

Not so bad, right?

Here’s where it goes off the rails: HB 5437 would also require that no part of a vape or smoke shop could be used as a “residence, dwelling place or location for human habitation.” It would also require vape and smoke shop owners to be U.S. citizens.

“The purpose of House Bill 5437 is to regulate an industry or a business segment that is virtually unregulated and virtually untaxed,” said McCormick. “These vape shops are all over the state. There’s many bad actors. Many are not here legally. They live in the shops. They’re selling to underage kids. They’re marketing to underage kids.”

How many of us in West Virginia grew up hearing stories about those in our communities or even our own families who dragged themselves up from nothing by working hard and perhaps living in a few rooms above their place of business, or had a cot in the back while they saved up enough to provide more for their families? How many of us know good, hard-working families right now who are doing the same?

Further, how many of us know plenty of people who are working and here perfectly legally, but are not yet U.S. citizens? (There are lots of ways to be in this country legally, working and paying taxes, without citizenship.)

McCormick’s own use of words like “illegally” and “underage” betrays that he understands there are already laws in place to deal with the problem he says he is targeting. Whether they are being properly enforced is another matter — and there IS space for doing something good with pieces of this bill.

Once other members of the House take a closer look however, the attempt to score points by adding a political hot topic into the mix could harm the bill’s ability to accomplish any of it.

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