Latest news with #Bill318
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
NC advocates continue push for bill to crack down on youth vaping
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Dozens of advocates joined together at the North Carolina General Assembly Tuesday fighting for a chance to have a bill crack down on youth vaping heard by North Carolina lawmakers. House Bill 430, known as Solly's Law, and its corresponding Senate Bill 318 would require a tobacco retail sales permit for businesses to align with federal law, which sets the minimum age to purchase at 21. SPECIAL REPORT | North Carolina mother fighting against teen vaping with new bill The bill is named after Solomon 'Solly' Wynn. The New Hanover County teen died in 2023 at just 15. His stepmother Charlene Zorn says his doctors told her was due to complications from vaping. 'We have to do something now before someone else's child dies,' said Zorn. She was one of the advocates who came to the GA pushing for the bills to pass but it's been at a standstill in both the house and senate rules committees since March. Representative Donnie Loftis of Gaston County is one of the sponsors of the house bill. 'North Carolina is one of the last seven states to raise the age and to bring all unregulated vape shops into compliance with state law,' said Rep. Loftis. The North Carolina Alliance for Health says though most vapes are acquired from retailers, the next most common way teens are able to access them is from a friend under the age of 21. They also say e-cigarette sales have increased by 250% since 2020. Macey Morris, a student at Eastern Alamance High School, is just one North Carolina teen who spoke about what she's seeing at her school. 'Trying to use the restrooms throughout the day during class change and even during class time can be nearly impossible. The bathrooms are filled with students vaping and take up the majority of the space which can make it uncomfortable to try and use the restroom throughout the day,' said Morris. Rep. Loftis says they are waiting for the bills to go to their appropriate committees and they're hoping Tuesday's call for action will help. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Teens press NC lawmakers to raise the age for tobacco, vape products to 21
Among middle school and high school students who currently use e-cigarettes, 1 in 4 use the devices daily according to the CDC. (Photo: iStock) Thursday, June 5th would be Solomon Wynn's 17th birthday. But instead of planning Solly's birthday party, his stepmother Charlene Zorn was back at the legislature this week pleading with lawmakers to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco and vaping products in North Carolina from 18 to 21. Solly was just 15-year-old when he died from vaping in 2021. Zorn said her stepson went from being a healthy, athletic teen who was training for high school football, to one who suffered kidney failure and eventually had to be placed on a ventilator. 'When we lost Solomon, I vowed to make a difference in the lives of teenagers so no family would have to go through what my family's experienced,' Zorn told reporters at a Tuesday press conference. 'Over these last two years, I have realized that in addition to speaking with youth, the best way to honor Solomon's memory is to advocate for change in North Carolina and to make this about every child in our state, not just Solomon.' House Bill 430 and Senate Bill 318 — the 'Protect Youth From Harms of Vaping & Nicotine Act' — would raise the legal age of sale for tobacco and vape products to 21 and require sellers to have a tobacco retail sales permit. While the two bills have bipartisan sponsors, neither has moved since they were introduced in March. Sine both missed the legislature's self-imposed 'crossover deadline,' it will be a heavy lift to resurrect the legislation at this point in the session. But Zorn came prepared Tuesday. Joined by the bills' sponsors, more than a dozen teenagers from Alamance, Duplin and Wake counties came ready to walk the halls of the North Carolina General Assembly and urge their representatives to protect youth from the addictive and dangerous health effects of vaping and nicotine use. Macey Morris, a senior at Eastern Alamance High School, said lawmakers need to understand how many young people are becoming addicted because of the lack of state regulation. 'Vaping has completely changed our schools today. It's not only in the bathrooms, but also in classrooms where you find distracted kids who are hiding vapes in their clothing and their backpacks,' said Morris. 'It affects learning, it affects focus, and it deteriorates health.' Morris said the practice may seem harmless at first, but she's watched student athletes lose stamina and struggle to compete in their chosen sports because their lungs were damaged by a product many were told was safer than cigarettes. Advocates say permitting or licensing the sale of vape and tobacco products would allow the state to know where tobacco products are being sold and improve merchant education efforts, while also allowing the state to inspect for responsible retail practices. Some members of the National Federation of Independent Business owners raised concerns about a permit fee in the proposed legislation, but Rep. Donnie Loftis said that should not keep the bills bottled up in the Rules Committee. 'There was some concerns that $400 may be so detrimental to a business. I'm thinking if $400 is the difference between you staying open or closed, a child's life is well worth more than $400 for your business,' said the Gaston County Republican. Loftis said the bill would also set the age for legal purchase for vaping and nicotine products at 21, the same age for alcohol sales. North Carolina is currently one of just seven states that have not raised the federal minimum legal sales age of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, from 18 to 21. Senator Gale Adcock (D-Wake) said after three decades as a family nurse practitioner, she's convinced her bill will provide teenagers with the structural supports needed to prevent nicotine abuse. 'To help them make better short-term choices until their own decision-making capacity can catch-up with their physical growth,' reasoned Adcock. 'That is what this bill does. It gives our youth a fighting chance.' Ninety-five percent of vaping and tobacco use begins before age 21, according to advocates. North Carolina currently ranks 6th in the nation for youth vaping.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Assemblyman lambasts charter school industry as for-profit real estate scheme
Academica is the largest for-profit education management organization in the country. Academica Nevada, whose building is pictured here, is the biggest EMO in the state. (Photo: Hugh Jackson/Nevada Current) Democratic Assemblymember Skip Daly is sponsoring legislation that would put an end to what he sees as a loophole that allows for-profit companies to use taxpayer dollars to build quasi-public schools while skirting Nevada's prevailing wage laws. But his Senate Bill 318 goes further and bans charter schools from contracting with for-profit education management organizations (EMOs) altogether. Charter school operators and advocates are vehemently opposed to the proposal, telling lawmakers on the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday that it would 'shut down the highest performing charter schools' in Nevada. But Daly said he has included provisions giving charters the length of their current contract or at least two years, whichever is longer, to figure out and execute a transition. Charter schools were able to operate before EMOs, he said, and 'they'll be able to do it again.' Daly made the case that prohibiting for-profit EMOs would realign Nevada with the original intent of charter schools as non-adversarial complements to the traditional public school system. 'For-profit public schools was a mistake, an experiment that hasn't worked out,' he added. EMOs were meant to be vendors providing certain services, like payroll and accounting, that would normally be handled by a school district's central office, he said, 'but they have evolved into 'much more than a vendor.' 'They essentially own what are supposed to be public schools,' he said. Most Nevada charter school students administered by one Florida company Daly noted EMOs own the 'brand' of the school. He singled out Pinecrest, Doral and Mater as examples of charter school chains. All three, which each have more than one location in Nevada, are affiliated with the nation's largest EMO, Florida-based Academica. In 2022, more than half of all charter school students in Nevada were enrolled at schools contracted with Academica, according to an analysis conducted by the Nevada Current. EMOs are often affiliated with the company that leases out the building their charter schools operate out of. Charter schools 'cannot make an independent decision under this scheme,' Daly said, because their involvement is too deeply entrenched. 'These are not arm's length transactions.' The education committee's Republicans were critical of the proposal. State Sen. Carrie Buck, who is the executive director of Pinecrest Academies of Nevada, told Daly he 'needs to be truthful' and implied he was either misinformed or lying about how charter schools are set up and run. Minority Leader Robin Titus questioned his characterization of EMOs as running a 'scheme.' 'I stick with that,' Daly responded. Daly said the founding of many charter schools is 'not grassroots' and the EMO is involved from the very beginning. 'Their motivation is to increase market share, increase their per pupil dollars, and increase their land portfolio,' he said. 'They are just land companies building their portfolios through public dollars.' Daly, a retired building trades union leader, was pulled into the charter school issue through what he and many in his former profession see as a skirting of Nevada prevailing wage laws. How public charter schools in Nevada can become private when building their facilities In Nevada, any public project with a contract price of $100,000 or greater that is wholly or partially funded by public dollars is subject to prevailing wage law. Rates for prevailing wage are set annually by the Nevada Office of the Labor Commissioner, which compares similar projects in the region. The Nevada State Public Charter School Authority, the authorizing body for the vast majority of charter schools in the state, as well as Academica Nevada, have taken the position that prevailing wage laws don't apply to construction projects included within lease agreements that charter schools enter into with private companies. Daly contends that prevailing wage laws do apply because the charter school's governing board is sponsoring the project, which is paid for by the charter school using public funds it receives from the state. He also believes it is irrelevant that, as Buck and others routinely point out, charter schools do not receive additional dedicated facility funding. 'That's part of the bargain they signed up for,' he said. 'They agreed to it.' Daly acknowledges the issue of whether prevailing wage laws should apply to charter schools has not been definitively settled. Nevada Labor Commissioner Brett Harris confirmed, while testifying in neutral on the bill, that her office has received inquiries and complaints related to whether charter schools are subject to prevailing wage laws. SB 318 attempts to settle the issue and clarify that such projects are indeed subject to prevailing wage laws. Daly's bill likely faces an uphill battle. Democrats, while generally more critical of charter schools than Republicans, in previous sessions have rejected proposals to institute moratoriums or caps, and the charter school industry argued this would shutter existing high-performing charters. Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who has veto power over any bills passed by the Legislature, is a staunch supporter of charter schools.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
NC bills introduced to protect children from effects of vaping
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Lawmakers in North Carolina are considering a bill designed to protect kids from the effects of vaping. On Wednesday, state Rep. Donnie Loftis introduced two corresponding bills – House Bill 430 and Senate Bill 318. Both are called 'Solly's Law.' The bill is named after Solomon 'Solly' Wynn. His stepmother, Charlene Zorn, spoke at a press conference highlighting what supporters say is the need for more regulation of vaping. She said her stepson was a healthy 15-year-old boy with no major health problems, but once he started vaping, he developed breathing issues. Wynn died from severe hypoxia in 2023. 'Vapes and other nicotine products should not be available to underage kids,' Zorn said. 'We need enforcement. We need the legal age to purchase vapes and nicotine products to be at least 21 in North Carolina. We need to continue to educate our youth, our parents, our educators and the general public of the dangers of vape and nicotine products.' The North Carolina Alliance for Health says 95% of vaping and tobacco use begins before age 21, and North Carolina is currently one of seven states that has not raised the age for tobacco products. The group also says North Carolina is one of nine states that does not have a tobacco product licensing or permitting system, but believes there are about 1,200 to 1,500 tobacco retailers and 5,000 to 7,000 vape shops in the state. They say permitting or licensing the sale of vape and tobacco products allows the state to know where tobacco products are being sold, improves merchant education efforts and allows the state to inspect responsible retail practices. Rep. Loftis says if the bill were to pass, the permitting system would look similar to the process for beer, wine and lottery tickets. It would also be administered by the ABC Commission. Click here to read more information. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
