Tobacco to 21 Act

Summary: Tobacco to 21 Act This bill prohibits the sale or distribution of tobacco products to individuals under the age of 21. The Department of Health and Human Services must enforce this prohibition by taking necessary actions including, as appropriate, conducting undercover compliance checks, performing retailer inspections, initiating enforcement actions for noncompliance, and establishing requirements that retailers check identification.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tobacco to 21 Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Tobacco use caused 20,800,000 premature deaths in the 
        United States in the 50 years since the Surgeon General's first 
        report on smoking in 1964.
            (2) The 1964 Surgeon General's report linked cigarette 
        smoking to cancer, and since then, other tobacco products, 
        including cigars, cigarillos, roll-your-own products, and 
        smokeless tobacco have been causally linked to cancer.
            (3) While substantial gains have been made since 1964, 
        tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in 
        the United States, responsible for approximately 500,000 
        premature deaths each year.
            (4) Tobacco use costs the United States approximately 
        $170,000,000,000 in direct medical costs and $156,000,000,000 
        in lost productivity every year.
            (5) More than 42,000,000 people in the United States still 
        smoke, and the tobacco industry continues to challenge tobacco 
        control victories in court, manipulate products to evade 
        existing regulations, introduce new and dangerous tobacco 
        products, and spend billions on marketing to deceive the public 
        and addict more children.
            (6) An estimated 5,600,000 youth aged 17 and under are 
        projected to die prematurely from a tobacco-related illness if 
        prevalence rates do not change.
            (7) Use of tobacco products in any form is not safe, 
        especially during adolescence, as such use can lead to nicotine 
        dependence and subsequent tobacco-related diseases and death.
            (8) Adolescents are especially vulnerable to the effects of 
        nicotine and nicotine addiction and appear to show signs of 
        nicotine addiction at lower levels of exposure compared to 
        adults.
            (9) Nicotine exposure during adolescence may have long 
        lasting adverse consequences on brain development.
            (10) The likelihood of developing smoking-related cancers 
        increases with duration of smoking. Therefore those users that 
        start at younger ages and continue to smoke are at higher risk 
        for tobacco-related disease and death.
            (11) National data show that 95 percent of adult smokers 
        begin smoking before they turn 21. The ages of 18 to 21 are a 
        critical period when many smokers move from experimental 
        smoking to regular, daily use.
            (12) Young adults aged 18 to 24 are more than 2 times as 
        likely to use smokeless products as compared to older adults 
        aged 45 to 64.
            (13) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the 
        Institute of Medicine recommend comprehensive and sustained 
        tobacco control programs and policies at the Federal, State, 
        and local level in order to reduce youth initiation and the 
        prevalence of tobacco use.
            (14) Regulating the retail environment, actively enforcing 
        laws, and educating retailers are strategies that Federal, 
        State, and local governments can take to restrict the 
        availability of tobacco products to youth.
            (15) The recent report of the Institute of Medicine 
        entitled, ``Public Health Implications of Raising the Minimum 
        Age of Legal Access to Tobacco Products'', concluded that 
        raising the minimum legal age of sale of tobacco products 
        nationwide will reduce tobacco initiation, particularly among 
        adolescents aged 15 to 17, and will improve health across the 
        lifespan and save lives. Specifically, the report said that 
        raising the minimum legal age of sale of tobacco products 
        nationwide to age 21 would, over time, lead to a 12-percent 
        decrease in smoking prevalence.
            (16) The Institute of Medicine report also predicts that 
        raising the minimum legal age of sale of tobacco products 
        nationwide to age 21 would result in 223,000 fewer premature 
        deaths, 50,000 fewer deaths from lung cancer, and 4,200,000 
        fewer years of life lost for those born between 2000 and 2019. 
        In addition, the report concluded that raising the minimum 
        legal age of sale would result in near immediate reductions in 
        preterm birth, low birth weight, and sudden infant death 
        syndrome.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION AND ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
including any Federal regulation, it shall be unlawful to sell or 
distribute a tobacco product to anyone under the age of 21.
    (b) Enforcement.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services 
        is authorized to enforce the prohibition under subsection (a) 
        and shall take necessary action to enforce such prohibition, 
        including, as appropriate--
                    (A) conducting undercover compliance checks, 
                performing retailer inspections, initiating enforcement 
                actions for noncompliance, and taking any other 
                measures appropriate to help ensure nationwide 
                compliance with such prohibition; and
                    (B) establishing requirements that retailers check 
                identification or use other methods to ensure 
                compliance with subsection (a), or issuing guidance 
                concerning the responsibility of retailers to ensure 
                such compliance.
            (2) Enforcement authority.--In the case of a violation of 
        subsection (a), the Secretary of Health and Human Services may 
        apply the penalties under section 303 of the Federal Food, 
        Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 333), as though such 
        subsection (a) were a regulation promulgated under section 
        906(d)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 
        U.S.C. 387f(d)(1)), notwithstanding paragraph (3)(A)(ii) of 
        such section 906(d).
    (c) Definition.--In this Act, the term ``tobacco product'' has the 
meaning given such term in section 201(rr) of the Federal Food, Drug, 
and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321(rr)).

SEC. 4. NON-PREEMPTION.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent a State or local 
governmental entity from establishing, enforcing, or maintaining a law 
with respect to sales of tobacco to individuals below a minimum age, 
provided that such State or local law is at least as restrictive as the 
Federal law.