Virginia Highlights

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

During the 2024 legislative session, the Lung Association and public health partners successfully advocated passage of a bill that would give localities the ability to regulate the location of tobacco retailers in proximity to schools and child day centers. Passage of this type of bill which allows for local tobacco control is critically important in a state like Virginia which has strong preemption and tobacco industry presence evident by the passage of an industry supported bill requiring manufacturers of liquid nicotine or nicotine vapor products to register in the state based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration pre-market tobacco application status. Registry bills are unnecessary, have no proven public health impacts and are an industry way to divert attention away from proven public health policies.

Virginia also passed in 2024 a bill which takes steps to implement a retail licensing program. The bill was not as comprehensive as the Lung Association would have liked as it did not include licensure provisions for all tobacco retailers and did include a low weight-based e-cigarette tax. However, the bill was a first step towards a comprehensive retail licensing program in the future, including requiring all vape shops to obtain a retail license and to require the Tax Administration to establish and maintain a list of all tobacco retailers in the state.

During the 2023 legislative session, the Lung Association and public health partners successfully advocated for passage of a bill that would repeal Virginia’s tobacco surcharge. Tobacco surcharges have not been proven effective in encouraging smokers to quit and can cause tobacco users to opt out of health coverage altogether. However, the bill included a provision that the repeal would expire in 2026, and the Lung Association will advocate for it to remain permanent.

Recently in Virginia, a number of new casinos have opened across the Commonwealth which have highlighted the loopholes that exist in Virginia’s Clean Indoor Air Act. Protecting casino workers and patrons is a priority for the Lung Association and its partners in the coming year as no amount of exposure to secondhand smoke is safe.

The Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, established in 1999 by the Virginia General Assembly using MSA funding has a mission that empowers Virginia’s youth to make healthy choices by reducing and preventing tobacco and nicotine use, substance use and childhood obesity. VFHY has used this funding to conduct sustained prevention messaging which includes award-winning and fully evaluated marketing campaigns to children annually.

In 2025, the American Lung Association will continue to educate lawmakers on the ongoing fight against tobacco to advance our goals of addressing loopholes in Virginia’s Clean Indoor Air Act and repealing the tobacco surcharge permanently.