Subscribe to Cigar Rights of America RSS feeds and get the most up-to-date cigar-related legislative news for Maine. http://www.cigarrights.org/xml/news/news_ME.xml http://www.cigarrights.org/favicon.ico http://www.cigarrights.org/images/CRA08small.jpg en-us JAN 14 - Maine smokers already are banned from lighting up in restaurants, bars, public buildings, most workplaces, school campuses and in their cars if children are present. Now Sen. John Nutting, D-Leeds, wants to prohibit smoking on beaches in Maine's state parks. “Some of my constituents called me, saying they're tired of not being able to put their kids down on the beach because they crawl along and put cigarette butts in their mouths,” Nutting said. “Also, at some of the big beaches on the coast, people are packed in as tightly as if you were sitting in an auditorium, but you can just smoke away. … Why should you go sit on a beach if three feet away someone is smoking a cigar?” Beaches at Reid State Park and Popham Beach State Park are especially crowded during the summer months, Nutting said. “I would say that a summer weekend at Reid State Park is probably the peak area in the whole state for people to be subjected to secondhand smoke,” he said. http://www.bangornews.com/detail/97083.html Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:00 -0800 Maine PORTLAND, FEB 28 — Ken Jacobs made the switch to roll-your-own cigarettes a year ago to save money. With brand-name cigarettes going for $50 a carton, rolling his own cost only $8 to $10 for the same number of cigarettes. But starting April 1, the roll-your-own cost will skyrocket because of a new federal tax on cigarettes and tobacco products. "It's outrageous. It's insane," said Jacobs, who lives in Portland and was smoking Friday on Congress Street. The federal tax on cigarettes is increasing 156 percent, from 39 cents per pack to $1 a pack, and the tax on most cigars is rising sixfold, from 5 cents to 35 cents. The tax on moist snuff is going from 4 cents to 11 cents a can, and on pipe tobacco from 6 cents to 18 cents an ounce. http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=242069&ac=PHnws Sat, 28 Feb 2009 8:13 -0800 Maine AUGUSTA, Maine (AP), FEB 4 — Smoking on the beaches of Maine's state parks would be outlawed if a state senator has his way. Sen. John Nutting says he will present legislation to that effect Wednesday before the Legislature's health and Human Services Committee. He says he got the idea after a consitutent reported that she and her 1-year-old daughter visited a state beach and found cigarette butts left indiscriminately in the sand. http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009902049945 Wed, 4 Feb 2009 11:59 -0800 Maine APR 10 - The Maine senate has given initial approval to an amended version of a bill that would ban smoking at state park beaches. The bill was sponsored by senator John Nutting. The ban would apply only to areas within 20 feet of beaches, playgrounds, snack bars, picnic or enclosed areas, and public restrooms. The bill also requires the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to put up signs showing the area is smoke-free. http://www.wlbz2.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=103216&provider=email Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:36 -0800 Maine AUGUSTA, Maine (AP), APR 6 — A bill modeled after a Portland ordinance that limits smoking on restaurant decks and patios is on its way to the Maine House with a committee's endorsement. Rep. Joan Cohen's bill has received the support of a majority of the Health and Human Services Committee. The Portland Democrat's original bill sought to prohibit smoking at restaurants' outdoor public dining areas until 10 p.m., but public health advocates urged the committee to lengthen the ban to 24 hours per day. The bill goes to the Maine House for a vote and then faces a Senate vote. http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090406/NEWS/90406014&emailAFriend=1 Mon, 6 Apr 2009 03:17 -0800 Maine MAY 13 - Governor John Baldacci today signed into law a bill to prohibit smoking at state parks, beaches and historic sites. The bill's sponsor and the Department of Conservation don't think it will be difficult to enforce, but others question the need for such legislation. Democratic state Senator John Nutting, of Leeds, says his bill to ban smoking cigarettes and other tobacco products at Maine's public parks and beaches stems from concerns about second hand smoke and littering. "A constituent last fall wrote me a very impassioned letter, who had taken her young two-year-old daughter to several state park beaches and always being a typical two-year-old, when she was on the beach she liked to put things in her mouth and ended up putting a lot of cigarette butts in her mouth." http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNews/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/1858/ItemId/10514/Default.aspx Wed, 13 May 2009 04:33 -0800 Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Beginning September 12th, smokers will not be able to light up when they are eating or drinking outside at restaurants. The new state law bans smoking in outdoor dining areas. That includes restaurants, bars and snack bars. The law is modeled after Portland's smoke-free outdoor dining ordinance. The Seadog restaurant and the Whig and Courier in Bangor already ban smoking in their outdoor dining areas. The Seadog plans to post more signs and better enforce that rule. Whig and Courier owner Chris Geaghan says his restaurant has already gone smoke-free because his customers demanded it. http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=109007&provider=email 12 Sep 2009 04:22:16 -0700 Maine VIDEO: Victor Lindquist, Owner of the Maine Tobacco Shop in Bangor has seen regulations change in the less then 2 years his shop has been open. Mostly the banning of products like clove cigarettes and some flavored cigars. He and smokers have watched as the tax on cigarettes continues to rise. According to Rob Walker's piece The Tax Burden on Tobacco, "More then half of the cost of cigarettes in Maine goes to the government." http://www.wabi.tv/news/11575/smoke-and-mirrors-part-2 5 May 2010 11:11 -0800 Maine AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The assault on tobacco use is resuming on several fronts in the State House, including denying benefits for MaineCare recipients who smoke and restricting smoking in private clubs. Details of those and other bills are not yet fleshed out, but sponsors say they want to reduce Maine's smoking rate and drive down taxpayers' costs of treating tobacco-related illnesses. Sen. Thomas Saviello said Friday he decided to introduce a bill to keep people receiving MaineCare — the state's Medicaid program — from receiving benefits at the suggestion of a constituent who also works in a rural health care clinic. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-21/maine-lawmakers-consider-anti-smoking-bills.html 21 Jan 2011 11:11 -0800 Maine AUGUSTA — Citing statistics showing that poor Mainers smoke at a higher rate than the rest of the state's population, state Sen. Tom Saviello submitted a bill to prohibit smokers from receiving Medicaid benefits. Saviello, R-Wilton, contended that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay medical expenses for smokers through the state's MaineCare program. http://www.pressherald.com/news/bill-would-cut-medicaid-to-mainers-who-smoke_2011-03-02.html 2 Mar 2011 11:11 -0800 Maine SCARBOROUGH — Many residents and beach users came out on a rainy Wednesday night to attend a public hearing on whether the town should ban smoking and tobacco use on its public beaches. All but one speaker were in favor of the ban, many citing the effects of second-hand smoke and litter from cigarette butts as the reason for their support of the ordinance. http://www.theforecaster.net/content/s-scarborough-beach-smoking-public-hearing-031811 17 Mar 2011 11:11 -0800 Maine