10
Wednesday, January 3, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Enforcement begins
on tobacco law
Higp stakes vote on January ballot
PORTLAND — Oregon
will soon start enforcing
a new law that raised the
required minimum age to
legally buy or obtain tobacco
products from 18 to 21.
SB 754, known as
Tobacco 21, has been in
effect since Gov. Kate Brown
signed it into law August 9,
2017, with enforcement and
fines beginning January 1,
2018.
Oregon is the fifth state to
increase the age to purchase
tobacco, after California,
Hawaii, Maine and New
Jersey.
Under the new law, retail-
ers can no longer sell tobacco
products or inhalant delivery
systems, such as a pipe or
vaporizing device, to people
younger than 21. Violations
of the law are punishable
by a fine of $50 for employ-
ees, $250 for store managers
and $500 for store owners;
for managers and owners,
the fines double by the third
offense.
OHA’s Public Health
Division is authorized to
enforce the minimum age
of tobacco sales law and
coordinates with the Oregon
State Police to conduct
state-sponsored compliance
inspections.
Katrina Hedberg, MD,
Oregon’s state health officer
and epidemiologist based at
the Oregon Health Authority
Public Health Division, said
raising the minimum age for
buying tobacco products and
inhalant delivery systems is
proven to reduce youth ini-
tiation of tobacco use. She
noted nine of 10 adults report
they started smoking before
they were 19, and nearly 100
percent start before age 26.
“The earlier kids start
using tobacco, the more at
risk they are for becom-
ing addicted to tobacco and
developing chronic diseases
such as heart disease, asthma
and cancer,” Hedberg said.
“Raising the legal sale age
for tobacco products to 21
can reduce smoking rates
and reduce tobacco-related
deaths.”
For help quitting tobacco,
call Oregon’s toll-free Quit
Line at 800-QUIT-NOW
(800-784-8669) or, for
Spanish, 855-DEJELO-YA
(855-335356-92), or visit
https://www.quitnow.net/
oregon or in Spanish, https://
www.quitnow.net/oregonsp.
People who see a retailer
selling tobacco products or
inhalant delivery systems to
someone younger than 21 can
report the violation with the
business name, address and
other information to Tobacco.
Inspections@state.or.us.
SALEM (AP) — A tax on
insurance companies and some
hospitals to provide healthcare
for low-income Oregonians
goes to voters next month,
even after it was approved
by the Legislature and signed
by the governor during the
2017 legislative session.
Three Republican law-
makers, arguing that the costs
would be shifted to consum-
ers, gathered enough sig-
natures for a referendum to
allow voters to say yes or no
to the assessments — as the
Democrats tend to call them
— or taxes, the Republicans’
favored wording.
There is a lot at stake in the
January 23 special election.
If voters say no to Mea-
sure 101, thereby eliminating
or delaying the taxes, it will
cause a drop of $210 million
to $320 million in state rev-
enue, resulting in a possible
reduction of $630 million to
$960 million or more in fed-
eral Medicaid matching funds,
according to the Secretary of
State’s web site.
A “yes” vote would keep
the 0.7 percent assessment on
certain hospitals and a 1.5 per-
cent tax on insurers and coor-
dinated-care organizations
that facilitate the state’s Med-
icaid program. A “no” result
would force the Legislature,
which runs from February 5 to
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March 9, to search for money
to replace the funds the state
would then be deprived of.
The bill voters are being
asked to endorse also provides
funding for people with dis-
abilities, and stabilizes pre-
miums charged by insurance
companies, which may not
increase rates on health insur-
ance premiums by more than
1.5 percent as a result of the
new assessments.
Senate President Peter
Courtney, a Democrat, and
Ted Ferrioli, who was the
Senate Republican Leader
until November, put out a
joint statement in support of
the healthcare tax.
“We don’t always agree.
But on Measure 101, there’s
no question: Oregonians
should vote YES,” Ferrioli
and Courtney said.
“Measure 101 protects
healthcare coverage for the
hundreds of thousands of kids,
families, seniors and people
with disabilities on the Ore-
gon Health Plan. Measure 101
stabilizes insurance markets,
saving working families an
average of $300 per year on
their insurance premiums,”
they said.
Also in favor are dozens
of organizations, including
the Oregon PTA, the Oregon
Nurses Association, AARP
Oregon, the Coalition of Com-
munity Health Clinics and the
Oregon Medical Association.
The Baker City Herald
said in an editorial that an
estimated 11 percent of Baker
County’s population could
be affected by cuts to health
insurance programs for low-
income residents. But the
newspaper said tapping other
revenue sources would ensure
insurance coverage without
imposing taxes for the next
two years on some hospitals
and an estimated 15,500 small
businesses that provide health
insurance to employees.
Rep. Julie Parrish, chief
petitioner of the ballot mea-
sure, dismissed concerns that
people would lose healthcare
coverage in a “no” result in the
January 23 special election.
“Nobody loses their health-
care on January 24, and we’re
committed to that,” Parrish,
R-West Linn, said at a Portland
debate this month, Oregon
Public Broadcasting reported.
The Medicaid program
“needs fixing,” said Parrish.
“You know, sometimes
the way to heal that broken
bone that didn’t heal right is
to break it and reset it, and
that’s kind of what Measure
101 is about,” Parrish said at
the debate sponsored by the
Oregon Health Forum.
T h e O r e g o n P TA
responded on Twitter, writing
that Parrish was saying “‘let’s
take away healthcare for vul-
nerable families and see what
happens.’ #ThanksNoThanks
that’s not a plan that Oregon
PTA is going to get behind.”
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