If you don’t get your bill passed by midnight next Monday, it’s wait ‘til next term.

At the hearing on my bill to make the penalty for the sale of e-cigarettes to minors identical to that for tobacco products, one Senator was concerned that police would be arresting juvenile smokers.

I asked one of our reference librarians to research the question.

These are not arrests; civil citations are issued.

I emailed this information to all of the members of the committee, with a link to a New York Times article today about the “vaping explosion” among high school students. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/health/vaping-ecigarettes-addiction-teen.html.

In addition to this digital lobbying, I will talk to two members of the committee and ask them to look out for my bill.

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A lobbyist for a non-profit spoke to me about a Senate bill in my committee.

He wants to amend it.

“Would this be considered a friendly amendment by the Senate?” I asked him.

If not friendly, we agreed, it won’t be offered.

Don’t risk a bill dying because a compromise could not be reached before next Monday midnight.

Responding to constituent emails on your laptop can be a distraction during committee hearings.

But certain issues do catch your attention.

As when a Department of Health official testifies, “We are battling with vaping these days.”

Vaping is smoking electronic cigarettes.

There is a great deal of evidence that this is now the entry point of choice for many youth.

Preventing teenagers (and younger kids) from picking up the deadly habit of smoking cigarettes is one of the priorities of the state’s Cigarette Restitution Fund.

The Fund allocates the money Maryland receives from its share of the settlement from the lawsuit 48 states brought against the tobacco industry. Delegate Pete Rawlings and I were the lead sponsors of the bill that created the Fund.

Last year, the General Assembly passed HB 523, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Vaping Liquid – Licensing. It became law without the Governor’s signature.

I’m now concentrating on what we should do next.