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 2023 legislative session, the Lung Association and public health partners successfully advocated for the passage of a bill that would repeal Virginia’s tobacco surcharge. Tobacco surcharges are increased rates that health insurers are allowed to charge participants who use tobacco. Tobacco surcharges have not been proven effective in encouraging smokers to quit and can cause tobacco users to opt out of health coverage all together. Repealing the surcharge is an integral component in ensuring that people can get the assistance they need to help them quit and end their addiction to nicotine. The bill to repeal the surcharge passed both chambers with overwhelming bipartisan support and was signed by Governor Youngkin.

Additionally, the Lung Association worked to defeat a bill that would lower the tax on cigars from 20% of the manufacturers’ sales price to 10% or $0.30 per cigar, whichever is lower. The bill passed the House of Delegates but failed to receive the needed votes in the Senate Finance and Appropriations committee.

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.

Currently, Virginia does not require tobacco and e-cigarette retailers to obtain a tobacco retail license. Without a comprehensive tobacco retail license program, Virginia cannot effectively enforce, educate, monitor, or penalize illegal sales of tobacco products to people under age 21. This includes monitoring retailer compliance through required compliance checks and graduated penalties for violation, including license suspension and revocation. Another important component of any legislation would be to remove the youth purchase, use and possession penalties targeted at kids which have not been shown to be effective in reducing youth use of tobacco.

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.

The American Lung Association in Virginia will continue to educate lawmakers on the ongoing fight against tobacco. Our goal is to build new champions within the legislature and a grassroots advocacy network to advance our goals of establishing a comprehensive retail licensing program and addressing loopholes in Virginia’s Clean Indoor Air Act.