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FDA Regulation of Tobacco Product |
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In 2000, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not have the authority to regulate tobacco products. This ruling negated the regulations issued by the FDA in 1996. Since the 2000 ruling, a number of bills have been introduced in Congress to give the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products. |
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Remote Sale of Cigarettes |
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AWMA supports legislation cracking down on the remote sales of cigarettes by strengthening the 1949 Jenkins Act. A bill in the Senate, S. 1177 entitled the PACT Act (Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking), was approved unanimously by the Senate but never considered by the House. The bill strengthens the Jenkins Act – a law passed in 1949 requiring cigarette vendors that ship cigarettes into another state to anyone who is not a licensed distributor to report the sale to the state so the appropriate state excise taxes may be collected. Currently, this law is widely ignored by mail-order and Internet sellers and creates an unfair competitive advantage for those remote vendors. |
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Obesity Issues |
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There has been tremendous media and public attention given to the nationwide problem of obesity. While a lot of action is focused at the state and local level, there has been some movement on this issue at the federal level as well. A bill in the Senate, S. 1172, supported by AWMA because of its reasonable, practical solutions to the obesity problem – was passed by the Senate but never considered in the House. The bill would have encouraged more funding for physical activity and nutrition programs instead of adopting punitive measures such as taxation and additional regulation. |
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Minimum Wage |
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A number of bills have been introduced in the 109th Congress to increase the federal minimum wage such as a bill introduced by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) that would increase the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour. This measure represents one of the steepest and quickest increases in the minimum wage in history. Although this bill – and the others that have been introduced – have not yet been considered in the 109th Congress, the legislators have indicated their intent to push for consideration during this Congress. These measures (S. 224 and HR 965 respectively) represent the steepest and quickest increase in the minimum wage in history. Although neither bill has been considered by the full House or Senate to date – these legislators have indicated their intent to push for consideration during this 108th Congress. HR 965 currently has 81 cosponsors and S 224 has 34 cosponsors. |
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Estate (or "Death") Tax |
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The tax relief bill passed by Congress and signed by the President in 2001 included a provision to gradually phase-out the unfair estate tax – one of the steepest and most confiscatory of all taxes. Unfortunately, because of an unusual procedure under which the legislation was considered in the Senate, this law will “sunset” in 2011 which means that the estate tax will be back in full force in less than ten years unless Congress takes steps to make that repeal permanent. A bill in the House, HR 8, providing for a full repeal of the estate tax recently passed and must now be considered in the Senate. This has been a top priority for the business community as well as for many in Congress, including the Administration. While it is unclear whether the Senate has the votes to pass a full and permanent repeal, both chambers are currently negotiating a workable solution to this unfair tax problem. |
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Creation of Association Health Plans (AHPs) |
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AWMA supports legislation to establish Association Health Plans (AHPs) that would allow small employers to arrange their benefits through associations – such as ours – making health care coverage more affordable by spreading the risk among a much larger group. These AHPs would also strengthen the negotiating power with plans and providers thus reducing administrative costs as well. Such action is necessary as health care costs have made employer-sponsored health coverage harder for business to provide to their employees and almost 44 million American workers are uninsured – with nearly 60 percent of those employed by small businesses. |
