Top Takeaways:
- Florida lawmakers introduced SB 754/HB 377 to establish a legal definition of “heated tobacco products” and to exclude them from cigarette-style taxation under Chapter 210.
- SB 754 defines heated tobacco products as tobacco-containing products that are heated without combustion to produce an inhalable aerosol.
- The Senate bill cleared its first committee on a 9–0 vote and advanced to Finance and Tax, while the House bill has begun its committee process.
A Florida senator is pushing legislation that would establish a distinct legal definition for “heated tobacco products” and remove them from Florida’s cigarette tax framework, potentially changing how they are taxed and regulated under state law.
According to the Senate’s bill analysis, SB 754, sponsored by Sen. Nick DiCeglie, would define “heated tobacco product” and revise Florida’s statutory definitions of both “cigarette” and “tobacco products” so that heated tobacco products are excluded from taxation as cigarettes and from the “tobacco products” category that covers non-cigarette products under Chapter 210, Florida Statutes.
“This bill will statutorily define heated tobacco product, and excludes heated tobacco products from taxation as cigarettes,” DiCeglie said during a Senate Committee on Regulated Industries hearing.
According to the committee analysis, SB 754 defines a heated tobacco product as “a product containing tobacco designed for use in an electronic device with a heat source that does not involve any form of burning or combustion during ordinary conditions of use and which produces an inhalable aerosol by heating the tobacco but does not produce any smoke.”
The bill cleared the Senate Regulated Industries Committee on Jan. 12 by a 9–0 vote, according to the committee’s vote record. It is next scheduled for consideration in the Senate Finance and Tax Committee, with Appropriations also listed as a referral.
A companion measure, HB 377, was filed in the Florida House by Rep. Chase Tramont and received its first reading on Jan. 13, according to the Florida House bill history. HB 377 has been referred to the Ways and Means Committee, the Industries and Professional Activities Subcommittee, and the Commerce Committee.
The Senate staff analysis explains that by excluding heated tobacco products from the definitions of “cigarette” and “tobacco products” for tax purposes under Chapter 210, heated tobacco products would not be taxed as cigarettes under Part I of the chapter or as other tobacco products under Part II.
Florida currently imposes cigarette taxes under Chapter 210, Florida Statutes. The Senate committee analysis notes that cigarettes may be taxed at a rate “as high as 25% of the wholesale price,” along with an additional levy described as “60% of the wholesale price,” depending on the applicable provisions.
