Currently, there are two pieces of legislation in Congress that would effectively change the predicate date for products deemed to be tobacco by the FDA. In January, CASAA updated our Call to Action for HR 2058 and issued a separate Call to Action regarding the Cole-Bishop amendment in April. We have also provided an up-to-date list of co-sponsors (updated 06.14.16) with an opportunity for people living in those districts to send thank you letters.

Both HR 2058 and the Cole-Bishop amendment are vehicles for language that would change the predicate date in the Tobacco Control Act (TCA) from February 15th, 2007 to the effective date of the deeming regulations (August 8th, 2016). This change would allow for all vapor products currently on the market to remain on the market without being subject to the burdensome and prohibitive pre-market FDA approval application process. If Congress does not act to change the predicate date established by the TCA, the wide variety of vapor products that adult smokers have come to rely on to live smoke-free will be swept off the market.

The first Call to Action for Cole-Bishop specifically targeted members of the House Appropriations Committee, so it was limited to those CASAA members whose representatives were on the committee. The amendment was successfully added to the Agriculture Appropriations bill and will be moving to the floor of the House for a full vote soon. Shortly prior to this vote, we will need to rally support in order to prevent opponents from stripping the amendment out.

CASAA will be issuing a new, strategically-timed Call to Action to support the Cole-Bishop amendment before the appropriations bill comes to a vote in the House. At this time, we are urging our members to support both of these pieces of legislation. We have updated our message to lawmakers in this Call to Action to reflect this support.