Pennsylvania Highlights

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

During the 2023 legislative session, the Lung Association and partners continued a comprehensive statewide effort to educate legislators and the public on the importance of tobacco control programs and their necessity to further reduce tobacco use. A successful day at the Capitol was held, our first in-person event since 2020, with participants across the commonwealth discussing the necessity of sustaining robust funding for Pennsylvania’s tobacco prevention program. Thanks to the efficacy of our advocates, lawmakers continued funding the program at previous levels with no reductions in fiscal year 2024.

Efforts to close loopholes in the Clean Indoor Air Act, which would prohibit smoking in virtually all Pennsylvania workplaces, including bars and casinos, incrementally advanced. Legislators met to hear public comment on the bill and the impact that it would have on Pennsylvania workers and families. During that public hearing, casino workers, leaders of the statewide Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), engineers from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Airconditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and our own Lung Association Chief Mission Officer Deb Brown told lawmakers what we have long known; that there is no safe exposure to secondhand smoke or aerosol, that there is no ventilation system that can remove the dangers of secondhand smoke, and that no one should have to choose between their health and their paycheck. The Lung Association hopes to continue to work with lawmakers and workers to advance this legislation in 2024.

Another policy priority for the Lung Association is increasing tobacco taxes and equalizing rates across all tobacco products – a proven policy to reduce tobacco use. If the cigarette tax alone was raised, not only would Pennsylvania's projected annual revenue increase, but thousands of lives would be saved. Furthermore, more funds could be generated, and additional lives could be protected if tobacco tax rates were equalized across all tobacco products, including non-cigarette tobacco products such as cigars and e-cigarettes. This would also help prevent youth from initiating or switching use due to an uneven tobacco tax regime.

The American Lung Association will continue to work with our partners in 2024 to educate lawmakers and the public on the importance of enacting proven policies to prevent and reduce tobacco use such as properly funding tobacco prevention and cessation programs, removing exemptions from the state Clean Indoor Air Act, and increasing tobacco taxes and equalizing rates across all tobacco products.