In the last days Senate bills could be heard in committee, Indiana lawmakers reworked and voted for legislation fixing the state's unconstitutional vaping laws – the subject of an FBI investigation.
Parts of a vaping law, enacted in 2015 and amended during the 2016 legislative session, were struck down by the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January because of the restrictions it placed on out-of-state companies.
The initial vaping legislation required e-liquid manufactures to obtain a certificate from a security firm, but only one Indiana firm qualified under the regulations put in place: Lafayette-based Mulhaupt's Inc. Six companies were approved to make e-liquid by Mulhaupt’s.
While lawmakers had planned on just making the legislation less restrictive to get rid of the monopoly, Sen. Randall Head, R-Logansport, threw out most security-related manufacturing requirements in amendments presented directly before the vote, citing the court ruling.
"We could come up with any rules we wanted for manufacturers within our state but we can't impose those same rules and regulations on out-of-state facilities," Head said. "My aim with these amendments is to, (first) get into compliance with federal court opinion. And (second,) I don’t want to create a two-tier system where we have more rules for manufacturers here than we do elsewhere, because that would simply drive manufacturers out of state and the products would still be sold here, but we’d be costing business and jobs here."
Lawmakers had already planned on removing all specifications about security firms when they proposed this year's Senate bill. In a committee hearing Wednesday, Senators also removed several requirements including measures that all e-liquid ingredients had to be stored somewhere only authorized personnel could access and companies must have remotely monitored security systems.
The main restrictions kept in place, Head said, were that packaging needs to be tamper-proof, the vapor products need to have a child safety cap and companies have to meet federal regulations.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 8-1 to approve the amended bill, and it heads to the Senate floor next.
Maphaupt's Inc. President Doug Mulhaupt issued a statement about the reduction of security requirements, saying they "respect" the committee's decision, and will continue to watch the bill.
"Mulhaupt's takes the business of protecting Hoosier consumers very seriously," Doug Mulhaupt said. "Any changes to e-liquid laws should not put safety at risk."
Even before the federal court decision, Indiana's vaping law has been a subject of criticism, as it led to businesses closing or moving across borders, along with an increase in e-liquid prices. The passage of the amended law in 2015 is currently being investigated by the FBI, and the Indiana Senate made fixing the law a priority, designating it Senate Bill 1.
In the appeals court decision, Judge David Hamilton wrote that the security firm requirements were “astoundingly specific.”
“These circumstances raise obvious concerns about protectionist purposes and what looks very much like a legislative grant of a monopoly to one favored, in-state company in the security business,” the court said.
Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, who pushed for the changes during the last legislative session, previously said the intent was not to create a monopoly.
"I'm just pleased we’re moving forward, that we didn’t just dig in the trenches and say it was going to be last year’s bill and we’re not going to make any attempt to clean it up,” Alting said.
Indianapolis Star reporters Tony Cook, Mark Alesia and Tim Evans contributed to this story.