Oregon Tobacco Shops Dodge New Licensing Fee
A proposal to require Oregon tobacco shops to pay a certification fee was defeated yesterday by a 27-32 vote in the House.
Senate Bill 416 had passed the state senate earlier in the week by a 16-13 vote, and seemed destined for passage in the house as well. It called for shops to pay for a new certification that would allow customers to continue to smoke inside, an exemption granted by the state’s Indoor Clean Air Act. The fee would have been set by the Oregon Health Authority, and it was that aspect that caused Rep. Brent Barton (D-Gladstone) to vote against it, noting the authority’s inherent dislike for tobacco stores, according to TheLundReport.org. He preferred for the fee to be stated in the statute, rather than opening the door for them to possibly be set at a punitive level.
The bill also called for the certification to be renewed every five years.
Patrick Lagreid
I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.
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