Florida’s Age-Gate Bills Could Redefine Adult Access to Safer Alternatives

---

Key Points:

• Legislative Overview: Florida lawmakers introduced HB 843 and SB 980, creating the “Florida Age-Gate Act,” a new framework that distinguishes between 21+ age-restricted retailers and stores accessible to youth.

• Core Approach: The bills do not ban non-FDA-authorized e-cigarettes outright; instead, they condition adult access on strict age-gated retail environments.

• Retail Distinction: Stores that allow under-21 access would face tight limits on advertising and display of non-authorized products, while 21+ only retailers could continue selling and displaying them under enhanced oversight.

• Enforcement Expansion: HB 843 increases inspections, advertising restrictions, and administrative penalties, with warrantless inspections by state regulators for retailers selling non-authorized products.

• Penalty Structure: Violations trigger escalating fines and suspensions, culminating in permit revocation after repeated offenses.

• Criminalization Risk: SB 980 goes further by adding criminal penalties, including a second-degree misdemeanor for repeated violations within a short timeframe.

• Youth Access Data: Existing enforcement shows strong retailer compliance – in 2024, only 5.5 percent of underage sales violations involved e-cigarettes, and specialty vape shops accounted for just 1.3 percent of all violations statewide.

• Adult Use Reality: More than 1.2 million Florida adults used e-cigarettes in 2024; since 2016, adult vaping rose 36.2 percent while smoking fell 31.6 percent, reinforcing harm-reduction trends.

• Policy Balance: The bills aim to limit youth exposure without prohibition, preserving legal access for adults who rely on flavored e-cigarettes to avoid smoking.

• Bottom Line: If implemented carefully, Florida’s age-gate model could offer a middle-ground alternative to bans – targeting youth access while maintaining pathways for adult tobacco harm reduction.

---

Legislation has been introduced in the Sunshine State that could significantly reshape adult access to tobacco harm reduction alternatives such as e-cigarettes. Companion legislation would establish a new regulatory framework that permits the continued sale of certain e-cigarette products in age-restricted (21+) retail environments, while imposing substantially stricter restrictions on retailers that allow access to individuals under the age of 21.

The proposed bills recognize the importance of preserving adult access to tobacco harm reduction products, while creating a regulatory structure intended to limit youth exposure through age-gated retail distinctions and enhanced enforcement mechanisms.

Florida House Bill 843 and Senate Bill 980 create the “Florida Age-Gate Act,” which seeks to strengthen state-level enforcement against the sale, advertising, promotion, and display of e-cigarette products that have not received a marketing granted order (MGO) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Importantly, the legislation does not impose a categorical ban on non-FDA-authorized products, but instead conditions their availability on strict age-restricted retail access.

HB 843 expands the state’s enforcement authority by increasing retail inspections, imposing new advertising and display restrictions, establishing escalating administrative penalties, and drawing explicit distinctions between retailers that permit youth access and those that operate as 21+ only establishments. These distinctions effectively separate the limited number of FDA-authorized e-cigarette products from the thousands of products currently used by adults that are pending authorization or have not yet received FDA marketing orders.

Under HB 843, the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (ABT) would be required to conduct regular, warrantless inspections of retailers selling non-FDA-authorized e-cigarette products. Retailers that allow individuals under 21 years of age on the premises would be prohibited from advertising, promoting, or displaying non-authorized products in any visible manner. In contrast, retailers that restrict access exclusively to adults aged 21 and over would be permitted to advertise, promote, and display such products more broadly, consistent with the bill’s age-gate framework.

The legislation also establishes an escalating penalty structure for violations. A first violation would carry a fine ranging from $500 to $1,000 and require corrective action. A second violation would result in fines between $1,000 and $2,500 and a license suspension of up to three days. A third violation would trigger higher fines and a suspension of up to 30 days, while a fourth violation would include increased fines and a suspension of up to 90 days. A fifth or subsequent violation would result in permit revocation.

Senate Bill 980 closely mirrors HB 843 but expands the regulatory regime further by codifying additional definitions, broadening enforcement authority, and introducing criminal penalties in addition to administrative fines. SB 980 creates a statutory definition of a “non-FDA-authorized nicotine dispensing device,” clarifies enforcement at the individual SKU and brand-family level, and authorizes inspections by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) alongside ABT.

While SB 980 adopts a similar escalating fine structure, it goes further by imposing a second-degree misdemeanor for a third or subsequent violation occurring within a 12-week period, substantially increasing the legal risks faced by retailers.

Together, HB 843 and SB 980 attempt to preserve adult access to tobacco harm reduction products while providing regulatory agencies with additional tools to distinguish between responsible, age-restricted retailers and those that permit youth access.

Notably, existing data indicate that Florida retailers already perform relatively well in preventing underage sales. The FDA conducts routine compliance inspections using underage decoys to assess whether tobacco and nicotine products are being sold illegally to minors.

Between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, the FDA conducted 5,557 retailer inspections in Florida, resulting in 1,082 violations for sales to underage persons – a failure rate of 19.5 percent. Of those violations, 792 (73.2 percent) involved cigars, 161 (14.9 percent) involved combustible cigarettes, and only 60 (5.5 percent) involved e-cigarettes. Specialty tobacco and vapor retailers accounted for just 16 violations during this period, representing 1.3 percent of all violations statewide.

The proposed legislation would also preserve adult access to tobacco harm reduction tools used by more than 1.2 million Florida adults aged 18 years or older in 2024, or 6.4 percent of the population. Since 2016, adult e-cigarette use in Florida has increased by 36.2 percent, representing an additional 434,052 adult vapers. During the same period, adult smoking declined by 31.6 percent, equating to 551,372 fewer adults smoking – trends that underscore the role harm reduction products may play in reducing combustible cigarette use.

Overall, HB 843 and SB 980 establish a regulatory framework designed to limit youth exposure to age-restricted products while maintaining legal pathways for adult access to flavored e-cigarettes. If implemented carefully, this approach could serve as a model for other states seeking to address youth use without resorting to prohibition-based policies that risk undermining tobacco harm reduction.

Nothing in this analysis is intended to influence the passage of legislation, and it does not necessarily represent the views of Tobacco Harm Reduction 101.