It’s that time of year. Pumpkins, holidays, leaves changing, and…the filing of a few hundred pieces of legislation that could impact the premium cigar and pipe industry. The Premium Cigar Association (PCA) is preparing for the 2025 legislative season and looks forward to working with our national network of retail partners to address threats and opportunities in the New Year.
As we enter this time of year, the PCA is conducting a series of planning sessions, with a regional and state-by-state review of anticipated legislation. These training sessions also present an overview of the support PCA has available to meet the needs of its membership. These tools include retail and consumer grassroots alerts, coalition building, communications, and briefings with and to legislators, preparing and providing testimony, providing model legislation, and related support.
The issues are far more varied than a decade ago. Smoking bans and tax increases once dominated the state legislative agenda. Now, it’s licensing and permitting, local authority (expansion and limitations), cigar bar exemptions, generational smoking bans, flavor product bans, and avoiding getting pulled into legislation meant for other products.
In some states the prefiling of bills has begun, and in others, planning hearings are being conducted in preparation for legislative drafting and anticipated introduction. Currently, the PCA is working with industry partners to plan good bills and is preparing to oppose those that present a threat.
The crystal ball says we should prepare for tax reform efforts in Virginia, Nebraska, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Indiana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Based upon discussions this year, there is possible cigar bar legislation in New York, Maryland, Ohio, and Wisconsin, along with interest in Michigan. We need to prepare to oppose any tax increase measures, keeping a close eye on Massachusetts, New York, and Michigan. There is an effort in Missouri to prevent local regulatory and tax authority, and we must watch for local authority bills in Rhode Island, Oregon, Kentucky, and Colorado. We anticipate licensing and permitting bills and flavor tobacco bans in over a dozen states.
We encourage our membership to be engaged with your state association. The PCA now has partner associations in over half of the nation, and they serve on the “front lines” for these and many other state legislative issues. In addition to being involved with your state association, we encourage the following to improve our collective approach to state advocacy:
- Call and visit with your state legislators
- Invite them into your shop
- Host a “Cigar Town Hall” with your customers and legislators
- Sign up your customers with CigarAction.org
- Circulate PCA petitions and calls to action on pressing issues
- Introduce yourself to your local government officials, as well
- Repeat!
The PCA looks forward to working with our members to address any and all legislation affecting your business. We also look forward to engaging your shop patrons for a new era in consumer engagement and to activating our manufacturer and associate members in our advocacy efforts.
– Contributed by Glynn Loope, director of state advocacy at the Premium Cigar Association (PCA).