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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:23 Oct 02, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3656.IH
H3656
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(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 ap-
proximately $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 con-
tinues 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 to-
bacco-related illness if prevalence rates do not 
change. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:23 Oct 02, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3656.IH
H3656
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(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 de-
velopment. 
(10) The likelihood of developing smoking-re-
lated cancers increases with duration of smoking. 
Therefore those users that start at younger ages and 
continue to smoke are at higher risk for tobacco-re-
lated 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 com-
pared to older adults aged 45 to 64. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:23 Oct 02, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3656.IH
H3656
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(13) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention and the Institute of Medicine recommend 
comprehensive and sustained tobacco control pro-
grams 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 Medi-
cine entitled, ‘‘Public Health Implications of Raising 
the Minimum Age of Legal Access to Tobacco Prod-
ucts’’, concluded that raising the minimum legal age 
of sale of tobacco products nationwide will reduce to-
bacco initiation, particularly among adolescents aged 
15 to 17, and will improve health across the lifespan 
and save lives. Specifically, the report said that rais-
ing the minimum legal age of sale of tobacco prod-
ucts nationwide to age 21 would, over time, lead to 
a 12-percent decrease in smoking prevalence. 
(16) The Institute of Medicine report also pre-
dicts that raising the minimum legal age of sale of 
tobacco products nationwide to age 21 would result 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:23 Oct 02, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3656.IH
H3656
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
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 im-
mediate reductions in preterm birth, low birth 
weight, and sudden infant death syndrome. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION AND ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion 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 prohibi-
tion under subsection (a) and shall take necessary 
action to enforce such prohibition, including, as ap-
propriate— 
(A) 
conducting 
undercover 
compliance 
checks, performing retailer inspections, initi-
ating enforcement actions for noncompliance, 
and taking any other measures appropriate to 
help ensure nationwide compliance with such 
prohibition; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:23 Oct 02, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3656.IH
H3656
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(B) establishing requirements that retailers 
check identification or use other methods to en-
sure compliance with subsection (a), or issuing 
guidance concerning the responsibility of retail-
ers 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 Cos-
metic Act (21 U.S.C. 333), as though such sub-
section (a) were a regulation promulgated under sec-
tion 906(d)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos-
metic 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, en-
forcing, or maintaining a law with respect to sales of to-
bacco to individuals below a minimum age, provided that 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:23 Oct 02, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3656.IH
H3656
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
such State or local law is at least as restrictive as the 
Federal law. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:23 Oct 02, 2015
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H3656.IH
H3656
smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS