§ 11-9-13.3. Legislative intent — Purpose.
The use of tobacco by Rhode Island children is a health and substance abuse problem of the utmost severity. The legislature finds that tobacco product usage by children in Rhode Island is rampant and increasing with over thirty percent (30%) of high school students smoking. The present law prohibiting the sale of tobacco to children is being ignored by many retailers. Rhode Island tobacco retailers illegally sell four million eight hundred thousand (4,800,000) packs, over eleven million dollars ($11,000,000) in tobacco product sales, to children annually. Tobacco industry advertising targets children as the replacement smokers for the one thousand one hundred forty-five (1,145) adults who die daily from tobacco product usage. Approximately seventy percent (70%) of the Rhode Island high school seniors who are smoking today will be the addicted adult smokers of tomorrow. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking-related direct medical costs in Rhode Island in 1990 climbed to one hundred eighty-six million dollars ($186,000,000). This is an ongoing, escalating financial burden borne by every business, large and small, and every person, smoker and nonsmoker, in Rhode Island. This is a health and economic drain created by each new generation of children who begin using tobacco products and become addicted to nicotine. It is the intent of this legislation to preserve and protect the health of children by: (1) stopping the illegal sale of tobacco to children, and (2) by severely punishing those who disregard the laws relating to the illegal sale of tobacco products to children.
History of Section.P.L. 1996, ch. 321, § 1.
Structure Rhode Island General Laws
Section 11-9-1. - Exploitation for commercial or immoral purposes.
Section 11-9-1.1. - Child nudity prohibited in publications.
Section 11-9-1.2. - Rebuttable presumption of minority upon testimony of physician.
Section 11-9-1.3. - Child pornography prohibited.
Section 11-9-1.5. - Electronically disseminating indecent material to minors prohibited.
Section 11-9-1.6. - Child erotica prohibited.
Section 11-9-2. - Employment of children for unlawful purposes.
Section 11-9-3. - Seizure and custody of exploited child — Proceedings as against neglected child.
Section 11-9-4. - Contributing to delinquency.
Section 11-9-5. - Cruelty to or neglect of child.
Section 11-9-5.1. - Investigation upon report of cruelty or neglect.
Section 11-9-5.2. - Immunity from liability.
Section 11-9-5.3. - Child abuse — Brendan’s Law.
Section 11-9-5.4. - Child endangerment.
Section 11-9-6. - Proceedings against parents of delinquent children unaffected.
Section 11-9-7. - Children’s Friend and Service excused from costs.
Section 11-9-8. - Appropriations for prevention of cruelty to children.
Section 11-9-9. - Powers of family court.
Section 11-9-10. - Abandonment of refrigerator in place accessible to children.
Section 11-9-11. - Designation of curfew streets.
Section 11-9-12. - Penalty for loitering on curfew street.
Section 11-9-13.1. - Cigarette and tobacco vending machines.
Section 11-9-13.2. - Short title.
Section 11-9-13.3. - Legislative intent — Purpose.
Section 11-9-13.4. - Definitions.
Section 11-9-13.5. - Responsibility for tobacco or health issues.
Section 11-9-13.7. - Signs concerning sales to individuals under age twenty-one (21).
Section 11-9-13.8. - Prohibitions applicable to license holders and their employees and agents.
Section 11-9-13.8.1. - Signs concerning the health effects of tobacco.
Section 11-9-13.9. - Multiple citations prohibited.
Section 11-9-13.12. - Enforcement and penalties — Citation for violation.
Section 11-9-13.13. - Nature and size of penalties.
Section 11-9-13.14. - Notification to the Department of Taxation of fines imposed.
Section 11-9-13.15. - Penalty for operating without a dealer license.
Section 11-9-13.16. - Rules and regulations.
Section 11-9-13.17. - Fines collected.
Section 11-9-13.18. - Prohibition on the sale or distribution of certain excise tax stamps.
Section 11-9-13.19. - Severability.
Section 11-9-13.20. - Packaging of electronic nicotine-delivery system liquid.
Section 11-9-14. - [Repealed.]
Section 11-9-14.1. - Compliance with federal statutes and regulations.
Section 11-9-15. - Tattooing of minors.
Section 11-9-16. - Plastic bags — Labeling.
Section 11-9-17. - Sterilization.
Section 11-9-18. - Care of babies born alive during attempted abortions.
Section 11-9-19. - Sale of spray paint to minors.
Section 11-9-19.1. - Possession of spray paint by a minor.
Section 11-9-20. - Sale of matches.
Section 11-9-21. - Prohibition of sale of certain dietary supplements to minors.