January 15 2021
Good Afternoon everyone!
It has been relatively quiet since last session where we had a record number of people out to the state house (including children) for testimony and opposition to anti vape legislation. Since it has been quiet there has not been much state related information to put out, until now.
So now that session has started, we have four bills that have dropped which I will list below. These are the bills that I asked for input from you guys in the MVA Facebook chat group which we submitted to our lobby team. We had a zoom call yesterday on these topics and we will move forward with a call-to-action campaign as soon as I hear back from our lobby team. I asked them about what message we want to send and to whom and how big of a CTA that we need. I will send out the details as soon as I can once I hear word. As always, we are being attacked as an industry in MD and we will have to make certain concessions to be able to stay in business. I know many of you do not agree with making concessions (and neither do I) but that is the political atmosphere we are in and we have to deal with it accordingly. We had a conference call with our lobby team a few days ago and they said last session they could walk around Annapolis with an open system, a closed system and two bottles of eliquid (both salt nic and freebase nic). They could walk around the halls of the capitol building and show legislators the difference between the systems and were able to educate legislators on the difference between them and what we do as a trade group and what we promote and what we do not. This session is much different because for the most part the capitol is closed, and everything is being done over zoom or phone calls so lobbying teams don’t have the access they usually do. So, the logistics are much different and we must go about things very differently this year and have limited time with legislators. That being said we are still going to fight and make compromises where we can, and make sure the vapor industry survives in Maryland.
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/SB0273?ys=2021RS
HB273
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/SB0177?ys=2021RS
SB 177
Two more bills that were introduced, one is Baltimore City
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/SB0378?ys=2021RS
HB 378 (Baltimore City)
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/SB0410?ys=2021RS
SB 410
The other thing we have been working on is an updated website that looks professional. We will be able to accept different modes for payment for membership dues. It will have individual login for everyone with forums we can post on. We will have updated information for members and information about what we are actively doing in Annapolis. That with pictures and videos of many things. So we will need everyone’s help with pictures and videos. We encourage everyone to upload any pictures on our google drive. We want pictures of your vape shops, customer testimonials (how vaping has helped them), pictures of you checking ID’s and anything that looks nice and things that we actually do in our industry. IMPORTANT: if you take pictures and/or video to be uploaded the web developer has asked that you take the picture or video in landscape orientation! We have a few members helping with the organization and content for the website and I’m excited to get it up and going because it will be an effective tool to show other vape shops great reasons to join the fight. This is the google drive link, if you have pictures of individual shops please make a new folder for your shop, just helps to sort better.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LkA8YQDm_yCO1xdKx6Zp5Aw79hGuPR1B
This has been a difficult year for everyone, especially because of Covid and the toll it has taken on peoples lives and businesses. We cannot have regular meetings like we usually do where we all get to meet face to face. We can do zoom calls whenever we need to if we have important things that come up easily. We will put out important information first and foremost in our FB chat group so you get updated information and are the first to know. Thank you all for your continued support in fighting for the vapor industry in Maryland!
As soon as I hear back from our lobby team we will put out a Call To Action for these bills. The first bill will be heard on January 28th so this is time sensitive and we will have to work quickly.
I hope this newsletter finds you all well
Thank You,
Matthew Milby MVA
As always questions can be emailed to Maryland.vapor.alliance@gmail.com
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