LANSING—Senator Tupac A. Hunter’s (D-Detroit) bill to only allow the sale of slow-burn cigarettes in Michigan won approval in the Senate Committee on Commerce and Tourism today. Senate Bill 264 would fine retailers $100 per pack if they sold cigarettes that did not meet fire safety slow-burn standards, and would also create a new fund for fire safety programs.

“Slow-burn cigarettes can help decrease the number of cigarette-related fires and deaths that occur here in Michigan” said Senator Hunter. “I thank my colleagues for voting these bills out of committee, and I look forward to their quick approval by the Senate.”

Senate Bill 264 would create a fine of not more than $100 per pack if a manufacturer, wholesaler, dealer or agent sells or offers to sell anything other than slow-burn cigarettes. Any fines collected would be deposited into The Cigarette Fire Safety Standard and Firefighter Protection Act Fund that would be created in the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth. This money may only be used to support fire safety and prevention programs.

The U.S. Fire Administration, within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, says that at least 1,000 smokers and nonsmokers die every year in home fires caused by cigarettes and other smoking materials. Of that number, one in four who died in home fires were not the smoker whose cigarette caused the fire, and one third of those who died were children. The U.S. Fire Administration encourages smokers to use slow-burn cigarettes.

# # #

Sen. Hunter represents the 5th district, which is comprised of northwest Detroit, Dearborn and Inkster. He serves as Minority Vice Chair of the Banking & Financial Institutions and the Homeland Security & Emerging Technologies Committees. He is also a member of the Commerce & Tourism and the Economic Development & Regulatory Reform Committees.