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State Laws on Tobacco Control—United States, 1998

MMWR Highlights

June 25, 1999 / Vol. 48 / No. SS–3


  • "State Laws on Tobacco Control—United States 1998" show progress in laws that protect minors, but not enough progress in smoke-free indoor air laws and repealing preemptive tobacco control laws.
  • Twenty states and the District of Columbia limit smoking in private worksites. Of these states, only one (California) meets the nation's Healthy People 2000 objective to eliminate exposure to environmental tobacco smoke by either banning indoor smoking or limiting it to separately ventilated areas. Forty-one states and the District of Columbia have laws restricting smoking in state government worksites, but only 13 of these states meet the nation's Healthy People 2000 objective. Currently, 28 states and D.C. limit smoking in commercial day care centers, and 22 meet the Healthy People 2000 objective. Five states (Hawaii, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, and Tennessee) have strengthened their smoke-free indoor air laws since the 1995 report.
  • Twenty-eight states and D.C. have laws that limit smoking in commercial day care centers. Of these states, only 22 meet the Healthy People 2000 objective. Thirty states and D.C. have laws that restrict smoking in restaurants.
  • All states prohibit the sale of tobacco products to minors. Twenty-three states and D.C. may suspend or revoke a retail tobacco products license for violation of youth access laws, an increase of 11 states since the 1995 report.
  • Forty-one states and D.C. have restrictions on cigarette vending machines. Nineteen states and D.C. meet the Healthy People 2000 objective to ban cigarette vending machines in areas accessible to minors, an increase of eight states since the 1995 report. Only 13 states have legislation that restricts the advertising and promotion of tobacco products.
  • All states have an excise tax on cigarettes. As of December 31, 1998, the average tax was 38.9 cents per pack and ranged from 2.5 cents per pack in Virginia to one dollar per pack in Alaska and Hawaii. Thirteen states increased their cigarette tax since the 1995 report; increases ranged from 12 cents in New Hampshire to 71 cents in Alaska. A Healthy People 2000 objective is to increase combined state and federal tobacco excise taxes to at least 50 percent of the average retail price of all cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. Only 42 states have an excise tax on smokeless tobacco products, and many tax these products at a per-pack rate much lower than that for cigarettes.
  • More than half of all states (30 states) have preemption provisions in their tobacco control laws. Six states have passed preemptive laws since the 1995 report. Of these, Indiana and Maine did not have previous preemptive laws in any area tracked in the report. However, Maine repealed its preemptive law as of June 1997. Preemptive legislation is defined as legislation that prevents a local jurisdiction from enacting laws more stringent than, or at a variance with, the state law.

State Laws on Tobacco Control—United States, 1998  
48 (No. SS-03):21-62, June 25, 1999


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This page last reviewed April 11, 2003

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