Iowa lawmakers approved a vape and alternative nicotine tax to steer $3 million to pediatric cancer research at the University of Iowa, even as some critics derided the increase as a “drop in the bucket.”
Senate File 2480 would create a 5-cent tax on vapes and alternative nicotine products and funnel the first $3 million raised from the tax to fund pediatric cancer research.
This tax will provide an ongoing funding mechanism for the research starting in the 2028 budget year on July 1, 2027. Rep. Brent Siegrist, R-Council Bluffs, said funding to kickstart research in fiscal year 2027 would be tucked into the state’s budget, pending legislative approval.
The House passed it in a 67-18 vote on Saturday, May 2, with 13 Democrats and five Republicans opposing the measure. That sends the legislation to Gov. Kim Reynolds to be signed into law, resolving differences between the House and Senate over how to fund the research.
House File 2758, the House’s proposal, suggested paying for the research from the state’s general fund. The House unanimously passed that measure April 21.
But the Senate unanimously passed its own bill April 22, punting it to the House for consideration.
Lawmakers split over tying cancer research funding to vape tax
Democrats were openly split over the proposal, raising objections to tying the mechanism for cancer research funding to a tax on products associated with cancer, saying it would leave the program dependent on people continuing to use those products.
“I believe that the Iowa House of Representatives is a co-equal chamber, and I believe we’ve been leaders in trying to fund pediatric cancer research,” said Rep. Austin Baeth, D-Des Moines. “We’ve been leaders in trying to tax tobacco at a rate that actually reduces tobacco use and actually saves lives, unlike our partners across the rotunda.”
Sen. Kara Warme, R-Ames, had said she expects the tax to generate $15 million to $18 million in its first year. Any leftover funds would be used toward Iowa’s Medicaid program.
But the state’s own nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency estimated less revenue, ranging from $2.6 million in fiscal year 2028 to $3 million in fiscal year 2031.
Siegrist said the Senate wouldn’t agree to changes that would have restored the language of the House bill and he wanted to keep the bill on track to Reynolds’ desk.
He said this proposal provides a stable funding source rather than the money being “subject to the whims of the general fund every year.”
“We can talk all we want about, ‘Oh, the Senate’s pushing us around,'” Siegrist said. “I don’t care about any of that. I care about results. … We will start a small effort to reduce the use of vaping and nicotine (pouches), and we’ll fund pediatric cancer research.”
Public health groups blasted the move as insufficient.
Carrie Arblaster, the Midwest regional advocacy director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement the Legislature “has missed a huge opportunity to protect kids, save lives and address the state’s cancer crisis by failing to enact a significant tax increase on cigarettes and equivalent taxes on other tobacco products.”
“By passing legislation that includes only a small tax on e-cigarette and nicotine pouch products, with no increase in cigarette taxes, the Legislature has protected the interests of the tobacco industry — an industry responsible for over 30% of cancer deaths in the state,” Arblaster said.
CAFE Iowa Citizen Action Network, a public health advocacy coalition made up of health providers and other advocates, issued a statement saying this was the tobacco industry’s “preferred approach because it does not reduce use or deter youth addiction.”
The bill “ties minimal, uncertain revenue to pediatric cancer research,” the group said. “The projected $3 million is unlikely to materialize anytime soon and depends on continued nicotine use to generate funding — an approach that is both fiscally unsound and ethically flawed.”
Democrats say the tax isn’t enough to curb use of vape products
Democrats said the tax rate set by the bill wouldn’t affect tobacco companies’ bottom lines, arguing that the bill’s 5-cent tax on vapes should be higher and would not discourage teens from becoming addicted to nicotine.
“I also just want us to be just really careful as we go into the future on setting precedents on allowing these types of moments to happen in the House,” said Rep. Rob Johnson, D-Des Moines. “Whatever happens in the Senate, that’s the Senate, but this is the People’s House.”
The Senate bill is the only measure at the Iowa Capitol that would raise taxes on any form of tobacco or nicotine products.
Reynolds in February pitched a 65-cent increase in Iowa’s cigarette tax, which would have taken the state from a tax of $1.36 to $2.01 per pack. And a coalition of public health groups proposed a larger $1.50 per pack increase.
Neither policy advanced.
Baeth said the measure risked shielding tobacco companies from future tax hikes and urged lawmakers to take up a steeper increase on tobacco products in the 2027 legislative session.
“It is shameful that the big tobacco companies have used Iowa’s sick kids as political pawns, as political prisoners to get their little vape tax inoculation across the finish line,” Baeth said.
Siegrist disputed the idea that the bill would encourage more people to vape and said it still “moves the needle” on addressing cancer.
“You can’t be as bold as you want to do,” Siegrist said. “This is a step forward. It’s a step forward, because we will be putting a tax on a product that is unhealthy, and will be helping and giving hope to those family members who have lost children to cancer, and also for the future people that we can maybe get better treatment and help prevent this.”
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X at @marissajpayne.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa lawmakers back vape tax to fund $3M pediatric cancer research
Reporting by Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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