I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3656 

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

the age of 21. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 

Ms. DEGETTE (for herself and Mr. TAKAI) 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 caused 20,800,000 premature 

8 deaths in the United States in the 50 years since the 

9 Surgeon General’s first report on smoking in 1964. 


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

2 cigarette smoking to cancer, and since then, other 

3 tobacco products, including cigars, cigarillos, roll4 your-own products, and smokeless tobacco have been 

5 causally linked to cancer. 

6 (3) While substantial gains have been made 

7 since 1964, tobacco use remains the leading cause of 

8 preventable death in the United States, responsible 

9 for approximately 500,000 premature deaths each 

10 year. 

11 (4) Tobacco use costs the United States ap12 proximately $170,000,000,000 in direct medical 

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

14 every year. 

15 (5) More than 42,000,000 people in the United 

16 States still smoke, and the tobacco industry con17 tinues to challenge tobacco control victories in court, 

18 manipulate products to evade existing regulations, 

19 introduce new and dangerous tobacco products, and 

20 spend billions on marketing to deceive the public and 

21 addict more children. 

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

23 under are projected to die prematurely from a to24 bacco-related illness if prevalence rates do not 

25 change. 


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1 (7) Use of tobacco products in any form is not 

2 safe, especially during adolescence, as such use can 

3 lead to nicotine dependence and subsequent tobacco4 related diseases and death. 

5 (8) Adolescents are especially vulnerable to the 

6 effects of nicotine and nicotine addiction and appear 

7 to show signs of nicotine addiction at lower levels of 

8 exposure compared to adults. 

9 (9) Nicotine exposure during adolescence may 

10 have long lasting adverse consequences on brain de11 velopment. 

12 (10) The likelihood of developing smoking-re13 lated cancers increases with duration of smoking. 

14 Therefore those users that start at younger ages and 

15 continue to smoke are at higher risk for tobacco-re16 lated disease and death. 

17 (11) National data show that 95 percent of 

18 adult smokers begin smoking before they turn 21. 

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

20 many smokers move from experimental smoking to 

21 regular, daily use. 

22 (12) Young adults aged 18 to 24 are more than 

23 2 times as likely to use smokeless products as com24 pared to older adults aged 45 to 64. 


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1 (13) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre2 vention and the Institute of Medicine recommend 

3 comprehensive and sustained tobacco control pro4 grams and policies at the Federal, State, and local 

5 level in order to reduce youth initiation and the 

6 prevalence of tobacco use. 

7 (14) Regulating the retail environment, actively 

8 enforcing laws, and educating retailers are strategies 

9 that Federal, State, and local governments can take 

10 to restrict the availability of tobacco products to 

11 youth. 

12 (15) The recent report of the Institute of Medi13 cine entitled, ‘‘Public Health Implications of Raising 

14 the Minimum Age of Legal Access to Tobacco Prod15 ucts’’, concluded that raising the minimum legal age 

16 of sale of tobacco products nationwide will reduce to17 bacco initiation, particularly among adolescents aged 

18 15 to 17, and will improve health across the lifespan 

19 and save lives. Specifically, the report said that rais20 ing the minimum legal age of sale of tobacco prod21 ucts nationwide to age 21 would, over time, lead to 

22 a 12-percent decrease in smoking prevalence. 

23 (16) The Institute of Medicine report also pre24 dicts that raising the minimum legal age of sale of 

25 tobacco products nationwide to age 21 would result 


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1 in 223,000 fewer premature deaths, 50,000 fewer 

2 deaths from lung cancer, and 4,200,000 fewer years 

3 of life lost for those born between 2000 and 2019. 

4 In addition, the report concluded that raising the 

5 minimum legal age of sale would result in near im6 mediate reductions in preterm birth, low birth 

7 weight, and sudden infant death syndrome. 

8 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION AND ENFORCEMENT. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi10 sion of law, including any Federal regulation, it shall be 

11 unlawful to sell or distribute a tobacco product to anyone 

12 under the age of 21. 

13 (b) ENFORCEMENT.— 

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

15 Human Services is authorized to enforce the prohibi16 tion under subsection (a) and shall take necessary 

17 action to enforce such prohibition, including, as ap18 propriate— 

19 (A) conducting undercover compliance 

20 checks, performing retailer inspections, initi21 ating enforcement actions for noncompliance, 

22 and taking any other measures appropriate to 

23 help ensure nationwide compliance with such 

24 prohibition; and 


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1 (B) establishing requirements that retailers 

2 check identification or use other methods to en3 sure compliance with subsection (a), or issuing 

4 guidance concerning the responsibility of retail5 ers to ensure such compliance. 

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

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

8 and Human Services may apply the penalties under 

9 section 303 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos10 metic Act (21 U.S.C. 333), as though such sub11 section (a) were a regulation promulgated under sec12 tion 906(d)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos13 metic Act (21 U.S.C. 387f(d)(1)), notwithstanding 

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

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

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

17 201(rr) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 

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

19 SEC. 4. NON-PREEMPTION. 

20 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent a 

21 State or local governmental entity from establishing, en22 forcing, or maintaining a law with respect to sales of to23 bacco to individuals below a minimum age, provided that 


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

2 Federal law. 

Æ 


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