SCS/SB 222 - The act relieves any person licensed or required to affix a tax stamp on cigarette packages or any retailer who in good faith sells cigarettes that do not comply with state law, from being subject to any administrative, civil or criminal penalties associated with such act. However it does not relieve a wholesaler or retailer from any penalty imposed by law if the tax stamp has not been lawfully applied. Declarations of non-compliant cigarettes must be posted on the website of both the Attorney General and the Department of Revenue. The director of the department of revenue must notify all wholesalers in writing via U.S. Mail of the manufacturers and cigarette brands that are no longer lawful to sell in the state. Within five days of such notification, the wholesaler must provide the director with a count of said manufacturers cigarette brands that the wholesaler is holding in inventory for sale in this state.
The cigarette manufacturer shall have the right to remedy any reason the director or attorney general gives for making it unlawful to sell such cigarette brands in this state and in the event said manufacturer provides such remedy, the director and attorney general shall cease any impending action to make such manufacturers brands unlawful for sale. Any tobacco product manufacturer aggrieved by a declaration of non-compliance has a right to seek relief in a court of competent jurisdiction.
JASON ZAMKUS