Indiana took a big step this month as a leader in data privacy when it became the sixth state in the country to pass consumer data privacy legislation. Modeled after Virginia’s law, Senate Bill 5 – authored by Sen. Liz Brown (R-Fort Wayne) – strikes a balance between companies’ ability to use and monetize data and Hoosiers’ ability to protect their personal information.
Senate Bill 5 has been praised by Republicans, Democrats, employers and consumer groups. The Indiana House and Senate passed the bill unanimously and it’s now on its way to the Governor to sign into law.
The Indiana Chamber is very pleased with the final product. We championed this bill all through the process and recently helped keep it clean from rogue amendments both in committee and during the second reading phase in the House, which ultimately made the bill easier to accept by the full Senate when it was shipped back across the hallway. This is a big win for Indiana as it can now signal the state’s expectations for managing data to prospective companies and residents.
Support is also building for another long-standing Indiana Chamber priority to perhaps come to fruition in 2023: raising the cigarette tax by $2 per pack. The movement is happening because more and more Republican lawmakers are seeing the benefit of using that increased funding stream to help pay for the initiatives in Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 4 that respectively address the mental and physical health concerns facing Hoosiers.
During a recent House Ways and Means Committee, many members of the Republican caucus expressed their support for funding SB 4 in particular with an increased tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products.
As Rep. Chris Judy (R-Fort Wayne) accurately noted, “We haven’t touched a cigarette tax in quite a few years (since 2007), and I honestly think if we’re going to create this big of a program, we need to honestly look at increasing the cigarette tax.”
The House lawmakers essentially were publicly imploring their Senate counterparts to agree to the hike. In several prior sessions, the House has passed a cigarette tax increase only to see the Senate not take up the issue. But times seem to have changed.
The 2023 legislation to enhance mental health (SB 1) and public health (SB 4) programming will pass in some fashion. Adequately funding both initiatives is a must to have the desired impact. Otherwise, we will always struggle with our health outcomes. It’s as simple as that.
Raising the cigarette tax by $2 per pack is expected to generate over $370 million in new revenue in the first year. That would provide ample revenue to fund both the mental and public health legislation.
What’s more, the $2 hike would curb smoking. Indiana’s adult smoking rate is the eighth highest in the nation and has been too high for years. Such an increase in the cigarette tax will also keep an estimated 24,500 youngsters from becoming adults who smoke or vape and help 50,000 adults quit smoking – and save nearly 20,000 lives.
The Indiana Chamber also proposes placing a parallel tax on all other tobacco/nicotine products – including e-cigarettes – which will further reduce Indiana’s smoking rates, improve health and reduce health care costs. It is important that the tax increase apply to all tobacco/nicotine products at an equivalent rate to encourage people to quit rather than switch to a cheaper product and to prevent youth from starting to use any tobacco/nicotine product.
The Indiana Chamber is strongly urging legislators to connect the dots and enact this common-sense policy to substantially increase the cigarette tax.
This action will make Hoosiers healthier and provide meaningful results felt in every community!
Regardless of the outcome on this matter, we are encouraged that more lawmakers are listening to the case for raising the cigarette tax and will continue to pursue the action until it becomes a reality.
