Massachusetts high court delays hearing on vaping ban suit

Massachusetts’ highest court is holding off hearing arguments in the vaping industry’s challenge of the state’s temporary ban on vapor products. The state Supreme Judicial Court said in an order released Friday that Monday’s planned court hearing in an appeal brought by the Vapor Technology Association will be postponed until further notice. The court is awaiting the results of new vaping regulations the state plans to issue next week before making a decision on the case.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker last week signed into law new restrictions on flavored tobacco and vaping products and promised to rescind the state’s emergency ban of the sale of all vaping products. Baker said the state’s Public Health Council will meet Wednesday to adopt new regulations as part of the new state law, at which point he’ll lift the emergency ban.

The ban was imposed in September and set to last until the end of December. Neighboring Rhode Island also has a temporary ban on the sale of flavored vaping products. Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo signed an executive order in September and the health department issued emergency regulations Oct. 4 to implement a four-month ban, with an optional two-month extension.

Rhode Island lawmakers have said they’ll address vaping in the next legislative session, which begins in January. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut is trying to figure out how to regulate vaping, after expressing an interest in banning flavored vaping products. A new law recently took effect in Connecticut that increased the age to 21 for someone to purchase vaping products.