New York Highlights

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

New York saw a slow year when it comes to statewide policy to prevent and reduce tobacco use in 2024. After a tobacco tax increase in 2023, hopes were high that legislators would build on that success to further fight tobacco use. Early in the legislative session, it was clear there was not an appetite to pass a comprehensive bill to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products. In addition, $7 million in additional funding for the state tobacco control program in the fiscal year 2024 budget was not retained in the fiscal year 2025 budget bringing state funding back to the just under $40 million level it had been at for many years before last year.

After these developments, advocates then focused efforts on closing loopholes in the state’s tobacco laws that have caused challenges to effective enforcement of its prohibition on flavored e-cigarettes. Additionally, other loopholes and vague language in the current law allow retailers to deny inspectors access to their stores, allow distributors to continue to carry and sell prohibited products to merchants, and retailers to claim they are selling products remotely. The industry has also found a way around the e-cigarette flavor law with additives that do not taste like tobacco and create a cooling effect for the user, mimicking the flavored e-cigarettes that are illegal. Despite strong advocacy efforts, the legislature was not willing to close these loopholes leaving the status quo in place.

Despite the lack of state legislative tobacco control efforts in 2024, there was important progress. The state of New York and some of its localities began to receive funding from the settlements with Juul Labs, Inc. These funds are being used in numerous ways to counter the actions that Juul took to addict youth to its products. Additionally, local education and advocacy efforts in towns and counties across the state continue. These efforts focus on local flavored tobacco sale prohibitions and establishing tobacco retailer licenses and other zoning laws to combat tobacco use.

New York has been a nationwide leader on tobacco control efforts but must continue to move forward with aggressive efforts to combat the number one preventable cause of death and disease in the state. Lawmakers at all levels of government must make progress in 2025 on these initiatives.