Wisconsin Highlights

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

In 2023, the American Lung Association and other tobacco control advocates in Wisconsin worked extremely hard to increase funding for tobacco prevention and control efforts in the state budget. Wisconsin is only allocating $5.315 million through the state budget for tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is significantly less than the $57.5 million recommended for Wisconsin by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While these efforts were unsuccessful during the budget process, the Attorney General directed the Juul settlement funds of $1.39 million for this fiscal year to go to youth e-cigarette prevention and tobacco use treatment.

At the end of 2023, the state legislature passed a law which will add e-cigarette retailers into Wisconsin’s existing tobacco licensing structure. While we would generally like to see stronger licensing practices, this closes a loophole and imposes some accountability on these retailers.

While the legislative session continues into 2024, thus far we have not seen the reintroduction of the bill to raise Wisconsin’s legal age of sale for tobacco products to 21 to match the federal law. This will help eliminate confusion from retailers about who they can legally sell to and is an important component of a comprehensive public health approach to reducing tobacco use.

There was an important local victory in Milwaukee, which passed a zoning ordinance that restricts where new tobacco retailers can open, prohibiting them from locating within 1,000 feet of a school, park, playground, library, or childcare facility, and within 500 feet of another tobacco retailer. This ordinance could be a model for other municipalities.

In the coming months, the Lung Association will work with our local volunteers and coalition partners on our 2024 legislative priorities, including strategizing to garner additional support for Tobacco 21 and e-cigarette shop licensing and to identify champions in both political parties. We will also be working to stop a state bill which proposes to create new “tobacco bars” which would be exempted from the Wisconsin smokefree air law. Wisconsin has been a leader in protecting all of its citizens from the known, indisputable hazards of secondhand smoke in the workplace and public places. Our law protecting both workers and patrons at all indoor public places has been in place since 2009, and it’s working! We must send a message to Big Tobacco that Wisconsinites are not softening their stance, we understand the detrimental impact of commercial tobacco products, and will continue to fight against these harmful products.

With your help, the Lung Association will ensure that our leaders pay attention to lung health, as we advocate for action to pass laws and put in place programs that will reduce commercial tobacco use and save lives.