The cigarette and vape company Altria may have misstepped this week with its bill to ban all competition in Texas for its smokeless Juul product. SB 2024, which began as a stealth bill in the Senate to prevent sales of all vape products “manufactured in China,” would leave the entire Texas market to Altria.
Leach withdrew his motion and announced that he would make another effort during the House-Senate conference on Friday. Fortunately for Texas, Reps. Cain, Tinderholt and Wu obtained a commitment from Speaker Burrows and Rep. Leach to join the conference. They seem determined to not let SB 2024 serve the interests of one company with no particular standing in Texas beyond the 22 lobbyists it registered to develop and push the bill.