arizona

For two consecutive years, Arizona has successfully blocked a proposed PMTA (Premarket Tobacco Product Application) registry bill aimed at regulating vaping products, overcoming significant challenges from Big Tobacco and certain Arizona legislators.

In the 2024 legislative session, the bill, introduced in the Arizona Senate as SB 1272, faced strong opposition. After circulating a whip sheet, a majority of the Senate Republican caucus signaled their intent to prevent the bill from advancing to the floor, effectively blocking its placement on the calendar for a vote.

Despite this delay, proponents of the bill attempted to revive it in the House through a "strike-everything" amendment, a tactic used in Arizona to replace the original text of a bill with entirely new content, often to bypass deadlines or reintroduce stalled legislation.

The amended bill was placed on the agenda of the House Transportation Committee, where it passed with a majority vote. However, to ensure its defeat, legislative leadership assigned the bill to an additional committee, a strategic move to delay or kill controversial legislation. The bill was never heard in this second committee and died.