Nevada Highlights

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States and in Nevada. To address this enormous toll, the American Lung Association calls for the following actions to be taken by Nevada’s elected officials:

The American Lung Association along with partners from the Nevada Tobacco Control & Smoke-free Coalition continued to lead state efforts to prevent and reduce tobacco use in 2023. Priorities of the Coalition continue to center around expansion of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act and proper funding for the state’s tobacco prevention and control program. The Lung Association priorities continue to be building support and political will in order to advance comprehensive smokefree protections at the local level and state level.

During the 2023 legislative session, a comprehensive tobacco control bill, Assembly Bill 294, was introduced. This bill would have prohibited the sale of flavored tobacco products, strengthened the state’s tobacco retailer license, phased out the sale of tobacco products for people born after December 31, 2002, and increased tobacco cessation coverage. Unfortunately, the bill did not see any movement. The Lung Association along with our partners also worked to maintain the budget for youth prevention and tobacco control programs. In 2021, the legislature included a two-year allocation of $5 million to the Division of Public and Behavioral Health.

Unfortunately, the legislature did not appropriate these funds in the budget for the biennium reducing funding to only $950,000 for each of the next two years from the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. This will have a direct impact on the Health Districts youth prevention and tobacco control programs. Additionally, the legislature passed a bill that will tax premium cigars at a lower rate than other tobacco products by imposing a cigar tax cap not to exceed 50 cents per cigar. Tobacco taxes are one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking and other tobacco use. Tax parity among combustible and other tobacco products is important to prevent initiation of tobacco products and to keep tobacco users from switching to lower-taxed and lower-priced tobacco products. The Lung Association opposed the measure.

The state legislature does not meet in 2024, but the American Lung Association will continue to build support and political will in order to advance comprehensive smokefree protections at the local and state level.