H. B. 2658
(By Delegates Manuel, C. White, Rowe,
Doyle, Douglas, Mahan and Fleischauer)
[Introduced February 4, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources then the
Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section five, article nine-a, chapter
sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to banning the
advertisement of tobacco products at, or sponsorship by
tobacco interests for, any youth activity or event.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article nine-a, chapter sixteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9A. TOBACCO USAGE RESTRICTIONS.
§16-9A-5. Outdoor billboard advertisements for smokeless
tobacco products, nuisance affecting public
health; banning sponsorship or advertisements by tobacco interests at youthful activities.
(a) Any outdoor billboard advertisement for snuff and
chewing tobacco products must conspicuously display one of the
following statements:
"WARNING: THIS PRODUCT MAY CAUSE MOUTH CANCER"
"WARNING: THIS PRODUCT MAY CAUSE GUM DISEASE AND TOOTH LOSS"
"WARNING: THIS PRODUCT IS NOT A SAFE ALTERNATIVE TO
CIGARETTES"
The warnings shall be rotated every four months by the
manufacturer, packager or importer of snuff and chewing tobacco
products in an alternating sequence in the advertisement for each
brand of such tobacco product. Such warning shall appear in the
format and type style prescribed under 15 U.S.C. 1333 (b) (3), as
amended.
No other warning, format or type style in any outdoor
billboard advertisement shall be required by any state or local
statute or regulation.
(b) Any outdoor billboard advertisement that does not
conform to the provisions of this section shall be deemed a
nuisance affecting the public health.
(c) No person on behalf of any tobacco company may sponsor
or promote any event in which the primary activity upon which the event is based is an organized youth activity, if a requirement
of the sponsorship or promotion, entails the publication,
advertisement, dissemination or promotion of any tobacco product.
No person may, regardless of sponsorship or promotion, in any
way advertise a tobacco product at any such event. For the
purposes of this section, "youth activity" means any organized
activity or event involving the participation of one or more
persons under the age of eighteen years in which other persons,
regardless of age, are expected to attend or otherwise observe as
spectators or interested parties. For the further purposes of
this section, an organized youth activity is considered to be the
primary activity upon which an event is based when fifty percent
or more of the participants in the event are under the age of
eighteen.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to ban sponsorship of
events by tobacco interests in which organized youth activities
comprise the primary focus of the event and to, otherwise, ban
advertising of tobacco products at such events.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.