Legislation to regulate e-cigarette advertising, definitions, and distribution, especially geared toward minimizing harm to minors, garnered significant committee attention over the last couple of weeks with robust testimony by the Texas Medical Association.
That advocacy was accompanied by a record-setting First Tuesdays at the Capitol event on April 1, which saw nearly 400 physicians, residents, and medical students meet with legislators to share medicine’s priorities and firsthand expertise.
Kimberly Avila Edwards, MD, an Austin pediatrician and member of TMA’s Council on Legislation, provided testimony supporting House Bill 2735, which would prohibit e-cigarette advertising in locations frequented by minors, and as of this writing was pending in the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce.
“We advocate for a regulatory framework that treats [e-cigarette] products like traditional tobacco products,” Dr. Avila Edwards said. “We support regulations that send a clear message: The health of our children is not negotiable.”
TMA continued advocating for e-cigarette regulations with testimony in support of the following bills:
- Senate Bill 1313, pending in the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce, would prohibit e-cigarette retailers from advertising appealing to children, which TMA dubbed “a preemptive approach to reduce e-cigarette use in youth.”
- Senate Bill 1314, pending in the Senate Committee on State Affairs, would strengthen the definition of e-cigarette products.
- Senate Bill 1316, also pending in the Senate Committee on State Affairs, would prohibit e-cigarette advertising within 1,000 feet of a church or school.
Additionally, TMA supported House Bill 484, pending in the House Committee on Higher Education, which would grant higher education institutions the authority to ban the use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and tobacco products on their campuses – while urging legislators to go even further.
“About 99% of adult smokers start smoking before age 26,” said Maria Monge, MD, in her April 1 testimony. “Smoke-free policies protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke exposure, help prevent young adults from starting smoking, and increase smoking cessation efforts. Strengthening this bill by requiring colleges and universities to adopt tobacco- and smoke-free policies will result in fewer lives lost to preventable death and disease, and fewer dollars spent on preventable health care costs and lost productivity.”
TMA registered opposition to Senate Bill 1698, pending in the Senate Committee on State Affairs, which would establish a Texas Comptroller-maintained e-cigarette registry of manufacturers and products in the state, including those without Food and Drug Administration approval.
“Including these products in a state-sanctioned directory legitimizes unapproved electronic nicotine delivery systems,” TMA testimony states.
Bills on the move (bill status as of this writing)
Women’s, public health
TMA provided support for three bills pending in the House Committee on Public Health, including:
- House Bill 220, which would allow health care facilities to offer sexual assault survivors emergency contraception.
- House Bill 2117, which would modify the duties of the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee to conduct study and review on an annual basis. Frequency of duties was previously unspecified.
- House Bill 50, which would require health care professionals drawing blood for lab tests to secure consent and offer an opt-out option when testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
Insurance
TMA is monitoring a number of insurance bills closely, and opposes three in particular:
- House Bill 139, which would create so-called “employer choice plans” that would be exempt from hard-won state-mandated patient protections. Zeke Silva, MD, voiced TMA’s concerns before the House Committee on Insurance on March 26. The committee approved revisions to the original bill that were voted out 6-3 on April 3.
- Senate Bill 923, which has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, would require the Legislative Budget Board to provide impact statements on behalf of the health insurance industry. TMA has concerns that lacking adequate data, those impact statements would be disproportionately represented by health plan interests.
- Senate Bill 926, pending in the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, would repeal physician protections against ranking and tiering TMA helped secure in 2009.
Other insurance bills TMA supports include:
- House Bill 1266, pending in the House Committee on Insurance, which would provide an expedited credentialing process for physician assistants and advanced practice nurses by managed care plan issuers.
- Senate Bill 884, pending in the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services which would establish a shared savings program for certain managed health plans.
Noncompetes
TMA supports Senate Bill 1318, which was voted on but not yet advanced out of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, characterizing the bill’s treatment of health care noncompete agreements as “striking a reasonable balance between the employer’s interests and the interests of the employee and the public.”
Keep up with TMA’s legislative efforts on its State Advocacy page, and make your voice heard by registering for the final First Tuesdays at the Capitol event of 2025.
Phil West
Associate Editor
(512) 370-1394
phil.west[at]texmed[dot]org
Phil West is a writer and editor whose publications include the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Austin American-Statesman, and San Antonio Express-News. He earned a BA in journalism from the University of Washington and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin’s James A. Michener Center for Writers. He lives in Austin with his wife, children, and a trio of free-spirited dogs.