SESSION OF 1998

SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON HOUSE BILL NO. 2726

As Amended by Senate Committee on

Federal and State Affairs

H.B. 2726 amends several statutes dealing with cigarette and tobacco infractions. Major provisions of the bill are as follows:

Juveniles charged with cigarette or tobacco infractions would not have a right to a jury trial.

All appeals of cigarette and tobacco infraction convictions taken from a municipal court or a district magistrate would be tried by a district court without a jury.

Criminal liability for selling cigarettes or tobacco products to a minor would be imposed on those who directly sell, furnish, or distribute these products to minors and on any retail dealer who has actual knowledge of an employee's selling or furnishing cigarettes or tobacco products to a minor.

A mitigating circumstance currently considered with regard to an employer's criminal liability, whether an employee has completed a training program on avoiding the sale or distribution of cigarette or tobacco products to minors, would be repealed.

In addition to licensed retail dealers, employees would be able to invoke a defense to prosecution for the sale or furnishing of cigarettes to a minor if the defendant had reasonable cause to believe the minor was of legal age and the minor exhibited a photographic identification card which purported to establish the minor was of legal age.

Background

A representative from the Governor's Office indicated the bill would not have the defects that were in 1997 S.B. 87, which was vetoed by the Governor.

Support for the bill was expressed by a conferee with the Kansas Oil Marketing Association. Comments were received from representatives from the Kansas Public Health Association, Inc., and the Attorney General's Office.

The Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs made several amendments to H.B. 2726. First, the Committee deleted provisions added by the House Committee of the Whole which would have provided that any moneys received as a result of litigation against tobacco industry companies and related entities or moneys received from any party or the federal government be credited in equal parts to the Residential Property Tax Exemption Finance Fund and the Children's Health Care Program Fund. Both funds would have been established in the bill.

Second, the Committee deleted a provision that would have allowed a municipal court judge, a district magistrate, or a district court judge to require a juvenile charged with a cigarette or tobacco infraction to appear along with a parent or guardian in court.

Third, the Committee deleted a provision that would have allowed the court to require a juvenile to complete an education program of at least two hours which focused on the dangers associated with the use of cigarettes or tobacco products.

Finally, the Committee deleted the provision that increased the current fine for a cigarette infraction of $25 to a system of graduated fines based on the number of prior convictions.

The fiscal note indicates the courts may experience some fiscal impact if there are a significant number of actions as a result of passage of the bill; however, the fiscal note does not take into account the amendments made by the Senate Committee.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.