Rep. Chase Tramont has again filed legislation that would differentiate heated tobacco products (HTPs) from traditional cigarettes and instead classify them as tobacco products, setting up a different taxing structure.
The bill (HB 377) is largely the same as another Tramont filed in the 2025 Legislative Session (HB 785), which died in committee.
The current measure similarly removes HTPs from the definition of “cigarette” and adds it instead to the definition of “tobacco products.”
It also adds 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, which are taxed at about $1.33 per pack.
A Senate companion to Tramont’s bill has not yet been filed, but Sen. Nick DiCeglie carried a bill (SB 1418) last year. It also died in committee.
