Texas Highlights

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

The Texas legislature did not meet in 2024, but work continued across the state. After receiving an increase in funding for the Texas Tobacco Quitline in 2023, advocates worked to spread awareness of the expanded Quitline access and lobby the Department of State Health Services to continue to ask for increased funds to meet the needs of Texans. The state also launched its new “Vapes Down” campaign: a youth-focused public awareness initiative focused on e-cigarettes, thanks to increased funding from the legislature.

2023’s House Bill 114 continued to cause headaches for schools and families across the state. The law’s mandate that any student caught on campus with an e-cigarette be sent to disciplinary alternative education program gathered strong media attention, and the Lung Association received numerous calls from schools and parents eager for more educational resources. In an effort to skirt the law’s required punishment, many school districts attained “District of Innovation” status, receiving an exemption from the law’s mandatory nature. The Lung Association strongly believes that students caught with e-cigarettes need education and cessation resources; removing them from classrooms does not address the issue and may lead to worse outcomes.

There was also local action, as multiple cities, including Dallas and San Antonio passed ordinances to add e-cigarettes to their local indoor smoking ordinances. Other smaller cities also passed ordinances prohibiting new e-cigarette and vape retailers, a recognition of the explosion of e-cigarette retailers across the state.

There are 37 tobacco industry lobbyists registered in Texas, 7th most in the nation. In the 2023 legislative session, the tobacco industry worked hard to support both a near-zero e-cigarette tax as well as bills to cut the tax on “non-tobacco” nicotine products like Zyn. One bill would have cut the taxes on these products by up to 80%. These products are currently taxed by the state, though there is a pending state supreme court case from the industry arguing their nicotine products should not be treated as tobacco products.

Despite an estimated budget surplus of $20 billion going into 2025, Texas continues to significantly underfund programs that are proven to reduce tobacco use, the leading cause of preventable death, disease and disability. Lawmakers must build on their momentum from 2023 by significantly increasing funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs as well as funding for retailer compliance with existing laws. A potential source of funding would be increasing the cigarette tax, which has not been raised since 2006. Additionally, the Lung Association calls on lawmakers to revisit efforts to pass a comprehensive statewide indoor smoking law.