FLER at APE

South Dakota Senate Bill 221 (SB 221), which seeks to regulate the retail sale of nicotine products, has passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee with a unanimous 7–0 recommendation. The bill was significantly amended, expanding from three to nine pages and shifting its focus from vapor products alone to all nicotine products.

Delaware Governor Matt Meyer’s proposed FY2027 budget would significantly raise cigarette and nicotine product taxes to help close a $500 million budget gap and generate new revenue. The cigarette tax would rise from $2.10 to $3.60 per pack, with increases on moist snuff, e-liquids and other tobacco products. Supporters say the move is justified, while small businesses warn of potential sales losses.

Alabama’s Senate Bill 9 advanced after clearing the Senate Committee on Healthcare, moving to the full Alabama Senate for consideration. The proposal would update the state’s 2003 Clean Indoor Air Act by including e-cigarettes and other vaping devices under the same restrictions that apply to smoking in most enclosed public places.

France’s top health agency has confirmed that vaping is less harmful than smoking — but not risk-free — reshaping the country’s regulatory trajectory. As Paris withdraws a proposed vape tax and debates stricter ingredient, emissions and youth-protection rules, the ANSES report signals not prohibition, but tighter technical oversight. For manufacturers, retailers and EU policymakers, France may be previewing Europe’s next phase of nicotine governance.

Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry said two men aged 48 and 50 were detained during a specialised police operation in Sofia’s Krasna Polyana district for distributing e-cigarettes and tobacco without excise stamps.

Glas has confirmed to 2Firsts that its G2 device, which received a FDA Marketing Granted Order (MGO), incorporates age-gating technology. Based on currently public information, this means the FDA has granted an MGO to the first ENDS product confirmed to incorporate age-gating technology, validating 2Firsts’ earlier inference.