43% of minors who use vapes get them from a retail source such as a vape shop or gas station.

According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Senator Jimmy Higdon and his co-sponsors hope Senate Bill 100 will help lower that percentage by subjecting the vape industry to the same licensing standards as alcohol retailers in the state.

Our McKenzie Spink is following this issue and filed this report.

Delaney Crump is a freshman at Boyd County High School in Ashland.

She says the vaping industry has manipulated her peers into becoming addicted to nicotine.

And she says the devastating effects of vaping on kids are already apparent.

This isn't just about lung cancer.

30 years down the line.

It's about kids dropping out of sports because their lungs can't keep up.

It's about the anxiety and depression that nicotine fuels.

It's about academic distraction and underperformance.

It's about an entire generation being stolen before they've had a chance to live fully.

While most minors get nicotine products secondhand through friends or adults, many have been able to purchase vapes directly from retailers.

That's according to a study by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Proponents of Senate Bill 100 believe the lack of licensure among these retailers is what allows vape shops and gas stations to sell to underage customers without oversight.

We know that Kentucky is one of only about ten states that does not require any licensing legislation.

No tobacco, retail licensure.

We know that Kentucky has one of the highest densities of retailers as well.

Senate Bill 100, if passed, would create the division of tobacco, Nicotine and Vapor product licensing within the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control, or ABC.

Retailers licensed to sell nicotine and vape products would operate similarly to retailers with a liquor license.

Under this measure, the ABC would have the authority to investigate any premise selling unlicensed products, conduct yearly compliance checks, and dole out serious penalties for stores and suppliers found in violation of the law.

This bill has teeth.

If you sell products without a license, you will face criminal penalties if you sell to underage individuals.

There will be serious financial and legal consequences.

Supporters of the bill claim SB 100 is not anti-business, but would improve the industry for legitimate retailers by weeding out the so-called bad actors.

Tony Florence, who owns a distribution center for Vapor Products, agrees with this sentiment and supports the bill, but felt it could use some tuning up when it came to the language defining an unauthorized vapor product.

Bringing up the future of medical marijuana.

And unauthorized vapor product is just any device that has nicotine or any other substance could be unauthorized.

So the issue there is it broadly scoops hemp vapor products in the future, medical marijuana vapor products.

So the fix there is just taking out or other substances out of the definition of a vapor product, because technically a room humidifier comes under the purview of the ABC.

Senator Higdon says half of the money generated by incurred fines would go towards a program educating youth on the dangers of vaping.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm McKenzie Spink.

Thank you, McKenzie.

Senate Bill 100 passed unanimously in committee and a statement.

Dr. Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, commended Senator Higdon and the students who testified and urged the full Senate to pass the measure and get it moved on to the House.

Meanwhile, another bill dealing with smoking also advanced today.

Kentucky cities could not stop people from lighting up a cigar indoors under a bill that cleared the full House.

House Bill 211 sets guidelines for cigar bars.

One provision local governments cannot impose ordinances or policies that restrict smoking within cigar bars.

However, smoking cigarets or using vaping products at the establishments would be prohibited.

Opponents argue the bill undermines smoke free ordinances that have been around for decades.

Supporters say people will only be exposed to second hand smoke if they go into the cigar bars.

This bill does not fully roll back existing smoke free laws in any local municipality in the Commonwealth.

This is not about smoking cigars in a regular bar or your local bowling alley or restaurant or in any other public place that doesn't currently allow smoking.

If you do not want to be exposed to cigar smoke in a public place where smoke free laws currently exist, nothing in this bill changes your ability to maintain that separation.

We have had a smoke indoor smoking ban in Fayette County for 20 plus years.

We have not had any issues with this.

There are there is a cigar bar locally that does very well.

This is a bill that should be addressed on.

This is an issue that should be addressed on the local level.

And I strongly oppose this bill.

Passed the House 74 to 19.

It now heads to the Senate for further consideration.