CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Boone County senator was predicting a bill requiring approval from county commissions or other appointing agencies for future regulations from county boards of health would “come back to haunt” West Virginia.
As of Tuesday morning, different versions of SB 12 had been passed out of both the state Senate and state House of Delegates.
“We’re going to end up losing this one, I’m terribly afraid,” Senator Ron Stollings (D-Boone), a doctor, told participants in the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free West Virginia’s virtual “Tobacco-Free Day of Action” on Tuesday.
Advocates on the call said they planned to ask Governor Jim Justice to veto the legislation if it passed.
Senator Majority Leader Tom Takubo (R-Kanawha), a pulmonologist, defended the Senate’s version of the bill.
He previously voted for it.
“I think what you’re going to see in the next short future is a strong rework of our public health system so that we can really strengthen and improve public health across the state of West Virginia,” Sen. Takubo said.
“But for this year, I think this is a fix that is a good compromise and creates local accountability for decisions that are being made.”
Along with support for local smoke-free air regulations, priorities for the those involved in the “Tobacco-Free Day of Action” included increasing tobacco prevention and cessation funding to the recommended Centers for Disease Control and Prevention level of $27 million.
Delegate Mike Bates (D-Raleigh) said he was working on a proposal that would dedicate a portion of interest from the Rainy Day Fund previously created with tobacco settlement money for cessation and prevention programs.
There were also calls for increases to state tobacco taxes and an equalization of taxes across tobacco and electronic cigarette products.
Sen. Takubo said an increase to the state tax on a pack of cigarettes, possibly taking it from $1.20 to $2.50 per pack, was expected to be part of Governor Justice’s larger proposal to begin to eliminate state personal income taxes.
That plan was not yet available in bill form on Tuesday, Day 21 of the 60-day Regular Session.
“We keep pressing the governor. We’re getting further into the session now. That bill’s going to be a big, big lift and the supporting legislation to go around that, we’ve got to have time,” Takubo said.
On another front, he said Governor Justice “may be overlooking vaping.”
An estimate from the state Department of Health and Human Services indicated 35.7 percent of young people have reported regular use of e-cigarettes.
Sunjit Neginhal, a student at Huntington High School, said he’s seen the effects of vaping on the performance of some of his fellow soccer players.
That inspired him to get involved in efforts to encourage more investments in prevention efforts specifically for young people.
“You can keep on asking the schools. You can keep on asking the students to stop vaping, but if they have no medium or if they have no education to stop, you’re not going to find any solvency for that anywhere,” Neginhal said.
“A lot of times when vaping is brought into the issue, people don’t think that it’s a bad thing when they start vaping.”
Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in West Virginia, according to the Coalition for Tobacco Free West Virginia.
“From a physician’s standpoint, 36 years as an internal medicine doctor in Boone County, there’s no one that I know that says that they’re glad that they started smoking,” Sen. Stollings said.
“We as a Legislature, as leaders in the state, are not doing a good job on those big picture items so I apologize on behalf of a minority that, frankly, has tried.”