The Pennsylvania House passed House Bill 1425—also known as the “Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) Registry”—on Monday, June 23.

From the bill’s description:

• An Act amending the act of March 4, 1971 (P.L.6, No.2), known as the Tax Reform Code of 1971, in tobacco products tax, further providing for definitions, for incidence and rate of tax, for licensing of wholesalers and for licensing of retailers and providing for electronic nicotine delivery system directory.

Representative Jeanne McNeill of Lehigh County, the bill’s primary sponsor, said the bill addresses concerns over transparency in the vape market, ABC27 reported last week.

“As a result, states have no way to enforce the law and keep these illicit vapor products off convenience store shelves,” McNeil said in a memo. “Notably, the vast majority of these illicit products are manufactured in China, and marketed under names, in packaging and in flavors intended to attract youth.”

McNeill was joined by 17 Democratic and 11 Republican cosponsors, including Representative Benjamin Sanchez of Abington Township.

The bill would establish the Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Director and aims to restrict the number of products available in the state by creating a public list of approved e-cigarette products. The list would be administered by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and manufacturers would have to confirm their certifications status annually, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The database would list all certified manufacturers and vape products legal to sell in the Commonwealth.

McNeill said that “the most important consideration of the bill is that unregulated vapes are too easily accessible for underage users and said most are made in China”, The Inquirer wrote. The bill has not yet been considered by the GOP-controlled Senate.

In March, the Abington Township Board of Commissioners unanimously passed an ordinance which effectively limits hours of operation and prohibits any business that sells tobacco, tobacco products, and/or vaping products from opening within 1,000 feet of an existing tobacco- or vape-related business.

In October 2024, Upper Moreland Township passed a similar ordinance.

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