Senate Approves Scaled-Back E-Liquid Regulations

The Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill to significantly scale back regulations on manufacturers of e-liquids, which are used for vaping.

Indiana’s existing vaping regulations created a de facto monopoly, forcing dozens of manufacturers to shut down or move, leaving only seven remaining companies. That prompted lawsuits and an FBI inquiry.

Legislation written earlier this year eliminated some manufacturing and security requirements. But after that bill’s introduction, a federal court ruled Indiana can’t impose almost any regulations on out-of-state manufacturers.

That ruling led bill author Republican Sen. Randy Head to scale back even further. He says he doesn’t want to regulate Indiana companies differently than out-of-state manufacturers. The measure now only requires manufacturers have child safety caps, tamper resistant packaging and a lot number on the packages.

But Sen. Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis), the Senate’s lone voice of dissent, says those changes go too far.

“It definitely is not going to help us regulate the e-liquid that so many of the young people and the adults that live in Indiana today are going to be using,” Taylor says.

Taylor mentioned the possibility of mixing illegal drugs into the liquids.

Head says the bill addresses that.

“These products must be unadulterated. I’m confident that means you can’t put heroin in them; I’m confident that means you can’t put marijuana in them. Those things are already illegal and they’ll still be illegal,” Head says.

The Senate approved the bill 49 to 1, sending it to the House.