State Fire-Safe Cigarette Laws Unaffected in Final Farm Bill Compromise

February 4, 2014

House and Senate negotiators have agreed on a final version of the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (H.R. 2642) that does not include a provision that the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) and other national fire service organizations had worried could disrupt state laws requiring that cigarettes be manufactured in such a way that they self-extinguish if left unattended for a period of time. These “fire-safe cigarette laws” exist in all 50 states and are intended to reduce the risk of accidental fires resulting from unattended or discarded cigarettes.

Although the provision in question did not target fire-safe cigarette laws, it would have restricted states from imposing standards on manufactured agricultural products made in a different state. Last July, the NVFC along with other national fire service organizations sent a letter to the leadership of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees asking that something be done to ensure that if the provision was included in a final version of the Farm Bill that it be modified to explicitly exempt fire-safe cigarette laws. Because the provision was left out of the final House-Senate compromise bill, no such exemption was necessary.