Second House panel warms to Chase Tramont bill on heated tobacco regulatory change

A bill from Rep. Chase Tramont that would differentiate heated tobacco products (HTPs) from traditional cigarettes has cleared the House Industries and Professional Activities Subcommittee.

The measure (HB 377) clarifies existing state law, reinforcing an existing Department of Business and Professional Regulation declaratory statement that affirms, under current law, that HTPs are not included in the definition of “cigarette,” but rather defined as “other tobacco products.”

The change would allow heated tobacco products to be taxed differently — at a lower rate — than traditional cigarettes, which are taxed at about $1.34 per pack of common sized cigarettes.

The bill cleared its latest Committee with broad support, including among all Republicans and some Democrats present. Only Rep. Anna Eskamani and Rep. Lindsay Cross, who voted as an ex-officio member of the Committee, delivered “no” votes on the measure.

Both questioned whether tax savings were warranted on a product that, while considered by most a harm reduction alternative to smoking cigarettes, is still harmful to a user’s health. Eskamani specifically noted that the Food and Drug Administration has “not approved at this time this product to actually help folks quit smoking.” And Tramont acknowledged that at first, he didn’t support the measure.

“Then a year later, my mother passed away due to lung cancer, and I had a change of heart,” he said. “I looked at it and I thought, you know, if something like this would have been around, maybe she’d have seen her last grandbaby.”

“Because the overall point of this — again, we’re not trying to take away a tax,” Tramont added. “We’re just trying to make an incentive for people to get off of cigarettes, which is where the real harm is.”

Tramont’s bill is largely the same as another he filed in the 2025 Legislative Session (HB 785), which died in Committee.

The current measure would add HTPs to the title of section of Florida Statute Chapter 210, Part II to read: “Tax on Tobacco Products other than Cigarettes, Heated Tobacco Products, or Cigars.” That would exempt HTPs from taxes levied on tobacco products.

The legislation also defines heated tobacco products as “a product containing tobacco designed for use in an electronic device with a heat source that does not involve any form of burning or combustion during ordinary conditions of use and which produces an inhalable aerosol by heating the tobacco but does not produce any smoke.”

While HTPs still contain nicotine and still present possible risks, they are a less harmful alternative to traditional tobacco products, according to various reports on the issue. Dominic Calabro, President and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, previously penned an op-ed in this publication noting the harms of cigarettes — more than 32,000 Floridians die from smoking each year — and pointing to HTPs as a less harmful and less expensive option.

With the cost of health care from smoking-related illness estimated at more than $10 billion annually in Florida alone, Florida TaxWatch is advocating for incentives to move smokers away from cigarettes and, if they can’t or won’t quit, toward less harmful products. The group is supporting a “different tax treatment” for HTPs that would make them more affordable than cigarettes.

Tramont’s bill has one more stop in front of the Commerce Committee before moving to the House floor.

An identical bill (SB 754) filed in the Senate by Sen. Nick DiCeglie cleared the Senate Regulated Industries Committee last month and awaits hearings in the Finance and Tax and Appropriations Committees.