SALEM -- Lawmakers in the state Senate on Thursday approved a bill raising Oregon's legal tobacco age to 21, inching the state closer to becoming the third to do so along with California and Hawaii.
Senate Bill 754, chief sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Portland, and Sen. James Manning, D-Eugene, creates an offense of selling tobacco to people under 21, punishable by fines of $50 for retail clerks and up to $500 for managers and $1,000 for store owners. The same fine applies to sales of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward
"Tobacco is one of the leading causes of illness, death and medical costs in Oregon. By raising the age to 21 we decrease access," said Steiner Hayward, an OHSU physician who carried the bill on the Senate floor. "This is pure and simple a public health bill aimed at improving the health of all Oregonians going forward."
Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, argued against the bill, saying it "discriminates against some adults" because if it becomes law, people ages 18 to 20 can vote or serve in the military but not buy tobacco.
He said the Legislature's support of the bill shows that lawmakers "simply do not trust millennials to make their own decisions."
The bill also provides "a great opportunity for young people to enter the thriving black market of bootleg cigarettes," he said.
Instead of increasing the tobacco possession age, Oregon officials should use cash from Big Tobacco legal settlements that's already in state coffers to fund smoking prevention programs, Ferrioli said. Much of those funds remain unspent, he said.
"I see this bill as a real state of hypocrisy," Sen. Alan Olsen, R-Canby, said in arguing against the bill. "Are we a nanny state or do we believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?"
Steiner Hayward responded that "the concern about bootlegging is real," but said teenagers would have reduced access to tobacco under her bill, which would benefit public health outcomes overall.
The bill passed 19-8. Voting against it were Sens. Herman Baertschiger, R-Grants Pass; Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg; Tim Knopp, R-Bend; Chuck Thomsen, R-Hood River; Dennis Linthicum, R-Klamath Falls; Fred Girod, R-Stayton; along with Olsen and Ferrioli, the Senate Republican Leader.
Since 2008, those members have collectively accepted $108,000 in campaign contributions from Big Tobacco companies Reynolds American and Altria, the parent of Philip Morris USA, except for Linthicum, who has not taken donations from those companies. At $35,000, Senate Republican Leader Ferrioli has accepted the bulk of those contributions, according to campaign finance data. Several Senate Democrats have also taken campaign contributions from those companies.
The bill now heads to the House, where its chief sponsors are Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer, D-Portland; and Rep. Rich Vial, R-Scholls. Steiner Hayward said she believes the bill has broad support in the House and will likely pass.
-- Gordon R. Friedman
GFriedman@Oregonian.com; 503-221-8209