Hawaii Seemed Poised To Adopt A Vape Flavor Ban. Then Came The Amendments …The amendments were necessary, Rep. Ryan Yamane said, and were in no way influenced by thousands in donations from tobacco companies and lobbyists.
For high school senior Zoey Duan, a pre-session meeting with state House leadership was a sign of changing tides. Maybe 2022 would be the year the Legislature finally banned the sale of the alluringly flavored tobacco products that had gripped her peers in an enduring vaping epidemic.
The Punahou School student had reason to be excited — Speaker Scott Saiki, health committee chair Rep. Ryan Yamane and vice chair Rep. Adrian Tam had committed to pushing the issue through the House, where previous iterations of the ban had gone to die.
So she and her fellow activists were dismayed when the flavor ban bill left Yamane’s committee nearly double in length and stuffed with what she says were “poison pill” amendments meant to “tank the bill and make sure it never passes.”
Yamane denied trying to kill the bill, saying the changes were necessary to increase the viability and scope of the ban. He said he was “shocked” at the negative reactions from advocates and agencies.
