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Health and human services policy bill begins to take shape

Should Minnesota ban electronic cigarettes inside state-owned buildings? Should that ban stretch to encompass all indoor areas?

Ten House and Senate members are taking up this issue and others as they work out the differences between each body’s version of HF2402, the omnibus health and human services policy bill. Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL-Rochester) and Sen. Kathy Sheran (DFL-Mankato) chair the conference committee, which met for the first time Monday morning and may get back together later in the day.

Under House provisions, e-cigarette consumers could not use their devices within state-owned buildings. Liquids used in e-cigarette devices would need to be sold in child-resistant packaging, unless the liquid is sold in a prefilled, sealed package, and e-cigarette sales from kiosks would not be permitted.

While the Senate does not include any of these House provisions, the Senate bill would add e-cigarettes to the Clean Indoor Act, which bans smoking in public places.

As the committee adopted same and similar provisions during the walkthrough of the side-by-side bill comparison Monday morning, they opted to pass over the e-cigarette sections, including those that are identical.

Other differences between the two bills include:

  • the wording of the warning sign required in tanning salons that would update the language and include new dangers of tanning bed use from the 1993 version;
  • the sale of triclosan-free products and a mandate to the Department of Health to recommend ways to minimize triclosan-related health risks are only in the House bill; the House passed a ban of products containing triclosan by 2017;
  • an article that would make changes to the Board of Pharmacy, such as drug dispensing authority, license violation procedures and civil and criminal liability;
  • continuing care programs, many of which are only in the House bill; and
  • details of a study of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. The Senate bill also contains a section that would make changes to the program. 

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