I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4273 

To prohibit the sale or distribution of tobacco products to individuals under 

the age of 21. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 7, 2017 

Ms. DEGETTE (for herself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. 

GARAMENDI, Mr. COHEN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and Ms. GABBARD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce 

A BILL 

To prohibit the sale or distribution of tobacco products to 

individuals under the age of 21. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tobacco to 21 Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) Tobacco use has caused more than 

8 20,800,000 premature deaths in the United States 


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1 since the Surgeon General’s first report on smoking 

2 in 1964. 

3 (2) The 1964 Surgeon General’s report linked 

4 cigarette smoking to cancer, and since then, other 

5 tobacco products, including cigars, cigarillos, roll6 your-own products, and smokeless tobacco have been 

7 causally linked to cancer. 

8 (3) While substantial gains have been made 

9 since 1964, tobacco use remains the leading prevent10 able cause of death in the United States, responsible 

11 for more than 480,000 premature deaths each year. 

12 (4) Tobacco use costs the United States ap13 proximately $170,000,000,000 in direct medical 

14 costs and $156,000,000,000 in lost productivity 

15 every year. 

16 (5) More than 36,000,000 people in the United 

17 States still smoke, and the tobacco industry con18 tinues to challenge tobacco control measures in 

19 court, manipulate products to evade existing regula20 tions, introduce new and dangerous tobacco prod21 ucts, and spend billions on marketing to deceive the 

22 public and addict more children. 

23 (6) An estimated 5,600,000 youth aged 17 and 

24 under are projected to die prematurely from a toVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Nov 09, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4273.IH H4273

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1 bacco-related illness if prevalence rates do not 

2 change. 

3 (7) Each day in the United States, nearly 2,500 

4 youth under 18 years of age smoke their first ciga5 rette. 

6 (8) Use of tobacco products in any form is not 

7 safe, especially during adolescence, as such use can 

8 lead to nicotine dependence and subsequent tobacco9 related diseases and death. 

10 (9) Adolescents are especially vulnerable to the 

11 effects of nicotine and nicotine addiction and appear 

12 to show signs of nicotine addiction at lower levels of 

13 exposure compared to adults. 

14 (10) Nicotine exposure during adolescence may 

15 have lasting adverse consequences on brain develop16 ment. According to the Surgeon General, the use of 

17 products containing nicotine in any form among 

18 youth, including in electronic cigarettes, is unsafe. 

19 (11) The likelihood of developing smoking-re20 lated cancers increases with duration of smoking. 

21 Therefore, smokers that start at younger ages and 

22 continue to smoke are at higher risk for tobacco-re23 lated disease and death. 

24 (12) National data show that about 95 percent 

25 of adult smokers begin smoking before they turn 21. 


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1 The ages of 18 to 21 are a critical period when 

2 many smokers move from experimental smoking to 

3 regular, daily use. 

4 (13) Three-quarters of people of the United 

5 States favor raising the tobacco age of sale to 21 

6 years, including 7 in 10 smokers. 

7 (14) Each year, nearly 500,000 youth aged 12 

8 to 17 use smokeless tobacco for the first time, and 

9 young adults aged 18 to 24 use smokeless products 

10 at twice the rate of older adults aged 45 to 64. 

11 (15) Electronic cigarettes are the most com12 monly used tobacco product among youth. According 

13 to the Surgeon General’s 2016 report on electronic 

14 cigarettes, electronic cigarette use is strongly associ15 ated with the use of other tobacco products among 

16 youth and young adults. 

17 (16) The 2015 report of the National Academy 

18 of Medicine entitled, ‘‘Public Health Implications of 

19 Raising the Minimum Age of Legal Access to To20 bacco Products’’, concluded that raising the min21 imum legal age of sale of tobacco products nation22 wide will reduce tobacco initiation, particularly 

23 among adolescents aged 15 to 17, and will improve 

24 health across the lifespan and save lives. Specifically, 

25 the report said that raising the minimum legal age 


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1 of sale of tobacco products nationwide to age 21 

2 would, over time, lead to a 12-percent decrease in 

3 smoking prevalence. 

4 (17) The National Academy of Medicine report 

5 also predicts that raising the minimum legal age of 

6 sale of tobacco products nationwide to age 21 would 

7 result in 223,000 fewer premature deaths, 50,000 

8 fewer deaths from lung cancer, and 4,200,000 fewer 

9 years of life lost for those born between 2000 and 

10 2019. In addition, the report concluded that raising 

11 the minimum legal age of sale would result in near 

12 immediate reductions in preterm birth, low birth 

13 weight, and sudden infant death syndrome. 

14 (18) Regulating the retail environment, actively 

15 enforcing laws, and educating retailers are strategies 

16 that Federal, State, and local governments can take 

17 to restrict the availability of tobacco products to 

18 youth. 

19 (19) Five States, the District of Columbia, and 

20 more than 230 localities in an additional 13 States 

21 have raised the minimum legal tobacco sale age to 

22 21. 

23 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION AND ENFORCEMENT. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi25 sion of law, including any Federal regulation, it shall be 


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1 unlawful to sell or distribute a tobacco product to anyone 

2 under the age of 21. 

3 (b) ENFORCEMENT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

5 Human Services is authorized to enforce the prohibi6 tion under subsection (a) and shall take necessary 

7 action to enforce such prohibition, including, as ap8 propriate— 

9 (A) conducting undercover compliance 

10 checks, performing retailer inspections, initi11 ating enforcement actions for noncompliance, 

12 and taking any other measures appropriate to 

13 help ensure nationwide compliance with such 

14 prohibition; and 

15 (B) establishing requirements that retailers 

16 check identification or use other methods to en17 sure compliance with subsection (a), or issuing 

18 guidance concerning the responsibility of retail19 ers to ensure such compliance. 

20 (2) ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY.—In the case of 

21 a violation of subsection (a), the Secretary of Health 

22 and Human Services may apply the penalties under 

23 section 303 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos24 metic Act (21 U.S.C. 333), as though such sub25 section (a) were a regulation promulgated under secVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 Nov 09, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4273.IH H4273

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1 tion 906(d)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos2 metic Act (21 U.S.C. 387f(d)(1)), notwithstanding 

3 paragraph (3)(A)(ii) of such section 906(d). 

4 (c) DEFINITION.—In this Act, the term ‘‘tobacco 

5 product’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

6 201(rr) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 

7 U.S.C. 321(rr)). 

8 SEC. 4. NON-PREEMPTION. 

9 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent a 

10 State or local governmental entity from establishing, en11 forcing, or maintaining a law with respect to sales of to12 bacco to individuals below a minimum age, provided that 

13 such State or local law is at least as restrictive as the 

14 Federal law. 

Æ 


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