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Senate Passes Health Bill that Funds Quit-Smoking Help and Strengthens Clean Indoor Air Law

ST PAUL (5/1/19) – Early this morning, the Minnesota Senate passed their Health and Human Services omnibus bill, which includes two important tobacco prevention and cessation policies. The bill funds statewide quit-smoking services and strengthens the clean indoor air act by prohibiting indoor e-cigarette use where smoking is already banned. Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation, a coalition of more than 60 organizations that share a common goal of reducing youth smoking and ending tobacco’s harm for good, thanked the Senate for including these critical measures.

“We are grateful to Chair Benson for her ongoing commitment to tobacco cessation,” said Molly Moilanen, Vice President at ClearWay Minnesota^SM and Co-Chair of Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation. “Lawmakers must fund tobacco cessation this session so Minnesota doesn’t become the only state without statewide quit-smoking services. We are also grateful to Senator Nelson and legislators from both parties for amending this bill to strengthen our clean indoor air act. Our clean air is threatened by harmful e-cigarette aerosol, and this provision ensures all Minnesotans can breathe the clean air they deserve and expect.”

In Minnesota, there is still a strong need for quit-smoking help. Despite progress to reduce smoking rates, tobacco use remains Minnesota’s leading cause of preventable death and disease. Smoking takes the lives of more than 6,300 Minnesotans every year and costs Minnesota an estimated $7 billion annually. While smoking rates in Minnesota had been declining for decades, the latest Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey found adult cigarette smoking has stalled and remains at 14 percent.

Minnesota is home to nearly 600,000 adult smokers and many of them are struggling to quit. Lawmakers must fund quit-smoking help for all Minnesota residents this year because QUITPLAN® Services, the state’s current free quit-smoking helpline, will end in 2020. If new funding is not approved, there will be a gap in quit-smoking resources, and Minnesota would become the only state in the nation not providing these services.

Funded by the tobacco settlement, ClearWay Minnesota^SM currently provides QUITPLAN Services in Minnesota to help people quit. ClearWay Minnesota is a life-limited organization and will end by 2022, with QUITPLAN Services closing down in March of 2020. QUITPLAN Services provides comprehensive support to tobacco users trying to quit, including the QUITPLAN Helpline and a range of integrated support services from text messages to FDA-approved medications. This proposal would provide funding to the Minnesota Department of Health to operate statewide quit-smoking services.

Second, on a vote with overwhelming, bipartisan support, the Senate added a provision that creates a strong, uniform standard for clean indoor air. Today, e-cigarettes threaten the health of Minnesota teens and young adults and have led to the first increase in youth tobacco rates in a generation. The 2017 Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey found that about one in five high-schoolers is using e-cigarettes. Public health experts are concerned that indoor, public e-cigarette use – especially when allowed in places where cigarette smoking is prohibited – may re-normalize smoking and further threaten Minnesota’s progress to reduce youth tobacco use.

The bipartisan policy would strengthen the state’s clean indoor air law, also known as the Freedom to Breathe Act, by expanding the definition of smoking to prohibit the use of e-cigarettes in bars, restaurants, workplaces and other spaces where smoking is banned. The bill’s expanded definition of smoking covers the range of tobacco products on the market now and anticipates new products that may emerge in the future.

Only 50 percent of Minnesotans are currently protected from e-cigarettes in indoor public places by local policies. Research shows that aerosol from e-cigarettes is not safe and threatens the state’s clean indoor air. E-cigarette aerosol contains nicotine, heavy metals, formaldehyde and other carcinogens and harmful chemicals. One health concern is that there have been no long-term studies conducted on e-cigarettes, so the long-term impact on the health of users or those exposed to secondhand aerosol is unknown. A recent poll found that a strong majority of Minnesotans – 81 percent – support this policy. Many states around the country have already added e-cigarettes to their clean indoor air protections, including North Dakota and South Dakota.

Last week, the Minnesota House passed their HHS bill, which included both these provisions as well as language increasing the tobacco age to 21 and dedicating delinquent tobacco settlement payments to health.

“We know the legislature is serious about addressing the youth nicotine epidemic. And we look forward to working with lawmakers in the last weeks of session to ensure the final health and human services package includes all four tobacco prevention and cessation policies,” Moilanen added.

More info: Cessation funding fact sheet, E-cigarette fact sheet, E-cigarettes in CIAA poll fact sheet

About Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation

Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation is a coalition of more than 60 organizations that share a common goal of saving Minnesota youth from a lifetime of addiction to tobacco. The coalition supports policies that reduce youth smoking and nicotine addiction, including increasing tobacco prices, raising the tobacco sale age to 21, limiting access to candy-, fruit- and menthol-flavored tobacco, and funding tobacco prevention and cessation programs.

Partners include: A Healthier Southwest, African American Leadership Forum, Allina Health, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association in Minnesota, Apple Tree Dental, Association for Nonsmokers – Minnesota, Aurora/St. Anthony Neighborhood Corporation, Becker County Energize, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, CentraCare Health, Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, ClearWay Minnesota^SM,  Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio – CLUES, Dodge County Public Health, Essentia Health, Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, HealthEast, HealthPartners, Hennepin Healthcare, Hope Dental Clinic, Horizon Public Health, Indigenous Peoples Task Force, ISAIAH, JustUs Health, LAAMPP Alumni, Lake Region Healthcare, Lincoln Park Children and Families Collaborative, Local Public Health Association of Minnesota, March of Dimes, Mayo Clinic, Medica, Meeker McLeod Sibley Community Health Services, Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians, Minnesota Cancer Alliance, Minnesota Council of Health Plans, Minnesota Hospital Association, Minnesota Medical Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, Minnesota Oral Health Coalition, Minnesota Public Health Association, MN Association of Community Health Centers, MN Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Model Cities of St. Paul, Inc., NAMI Minnesota, North Memorial Health Care, NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center, Olmsted Medical Center, PartnerSHIP 4 Health, Perham Health, Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, Shift MN, St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, Steele County Public Health, Tobacco Free Alliance, Twin Cities Medical Society, UCare, Vision In Living Life “Change is Possible”,  WellShare International and Zumbro Valley Medical Society. Find out more at: smokefreegenmn.org.