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February 23, 2005

A Newsletter of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, Inc.

By: Thomas A. Briant, Executive Director

This month, the National Association of Tobacco Outlets is celebrating its third anniversary since being formed in March of 2001. What began as a vision to organize the tobacco store retail trade to respond to tobacco legislation has become a full-fledged trade association that has grown to almost 2,000 retail store members, 41 major tobacco and accessory manufacturer members and a growing number of tobacco wholesalers. NATO’s vision and primary focus remains fighting unfair tobacco-related legislation in order to protect the rights of tobacco stores and their adult clientele. To everyone involved in making NATO a success, I want to extend a sincere thank you for your help and support.

--Thomas A. Briant, NATO Executive Director

NATO Tobacco Outlet Survey: Tell Us Your Concerns

This is your opportunity to tell NATO about the top three issues that concern you most as a tobacco retailer. Your opinion as a NATO member is important to the association’s board of directors who want to know what’s on your mind. The opinions submitted by NATO members will be reviewed by the board of directors and may lead to NATO working on new issues. Please take just a couple of minutes to write down on the "2004 NATO Retail Tobacco Outlet Survey" form your top three concerns as a NATO retailer. Then, return the survey to NATO by fax or by USPS mail. You can also e-mail your comments to NATO at info@natocentral.org, or print out the form and mail/fax to us.

2004 NATO Conference & Expo:
A Great Place For NATO Members To Be

The 2004 NATO Conference & Expo is the one annual tobacco trade show that NATO retail and wholesale members should plan to attend. Once again, the NATO Expo will serve as the host of the National Association of Tobacco Outlet’s Annual Membership Meeting and Legislative Panel. A special thank you to the following NATO manufacturer members for sponsoring the NATO Annual Membership Meeting and Legislative Panel:

• Conwood Sales Co.
• Kretek International
• Cusano Cigars
• U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company
• John Middleton, Inc.

The Expo is a true tobacco buying show with many exhibitors offering show specials to attendees. This year, in addition to the regular show specials, thirteen exhibitors are offering an additional show special only to NATO members. By attending the show, NATO members can save even more money by taking advantage of these thirteen exclusive show specials listed on this web site. There is still time to register and attend the NATO Expo which will run from March 23-25, 2004 at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. Call the Expo Registration Office at 1-888-737-3976 or log onto www.natoexpo.com and click on the "Attendee Registration" button to register on-line.

State Legislative Battles Begin: So far this year, 19 states are considering bills to increase taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products to balance continuing budget shortfalls or to fund special programs. NATO’s legislative staff, including Legislative Consultants Jackie Cohen and Shon Ross plus Executive Director Tom Briant, have been helping NATO members in these states by drafting letters to their legislators, providing customer alert sheets urging store patrons to call legislators and writing to legislative committee members about the unfairness of these taxes. This year, no states have actually passed into law higher cigarette or tobacco taxes. Also, NATO is helping members with efforts to defeat bills that would ban self-service displays or prohibit smoking in restaurants and bars.

Project S.T.O.P. Alerts: In just the past several months, Project S.T.O.P. (Stop Taxing Our Products) e-mail alerts have been sent by NATO to tobacco store customers in Alabama, Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The alerts urge the customers to contact their legislators and include their specific legislators’ names, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses to make it easy for customers to take action to oppose higher tobacco taxes.

Encourage Customers to Sign Up for Project S.T.O.P. Alerts: NATO retail members can go along way towards helping defeat a cigarette or tobacco tax increase by continuing to encourage customers to fill out Project S.T.O.P. cards. If you have completed Project S.T.O.P. cards, please mail them into the NATO office. If you need a Project S.T.O.P. display or a set of refill sign up cards, please call the NATO office toll-free at 1-866-869-8888 and a new display or a set of sign up cards will be mailed out.

Federal $2.00/Pack Cigarette Tax Proposed for Quitline: NATO’s federal legislative consultant Jackie Cohen reports that the Secretary of Health and Human Services has proposed raising the federal cigarette tax to $2.00/pack to fund a federal telephone quitline to help smokers stop smoking. Although this is an election year, it is possible that Congress may consider a bill to increase the federal cigarette excise tax during this session. At the February NATO board meeting, NATO’s board decided that NATO will take action on this proposed tax increase if a bill is actually introduced in Congress.

NATO Urges House Vote on Internet Cigarette Sales Bill: NATO has sent a letter to U.S. House leaders urging them to bring House Bill H.R.2824 to the floor of the House for debate and a vote. The purpose of the bill is to insure that state excise taxes are being paid to states for tobacco products sold over the Internet or by mail order and to verify age upon delivery to prevent sales to minors. A separate bill pending in the House would exempt Native American sales from these regulations. The U.S. Senate has already passed Bill Number 1177 that requires Internet and mail order sellers of cigarettes to collect and remit state excise taxes from each customer, bans the delivery of cigarettes through the U.S. Mail, mandates proof of age to prevent minors from purchasing cigarettes over the Internet and exempts Native American sales of cigarettes from these regulations. The NATO board has long supported legislation to level the playing field among different kinds of retailers that sell tobacco products.

State Legislation Increasing the Legal Age to Purchase/Consume Tobacco: At its February board meeting, the NATO board decided to oppose state legislation that would increase the legal age to purchase or consume tobacco products from the current 18 years (19 years in several states) to a higher age such as 21 years. Since 18 year olds are considered adults for purposes of voting and serving in the Armed Forces, the board decided that NATO would oppose legislation raising the legal age.

2004 Membership Dues Reminder: In January, all NATO members (retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers) were mailed invoices to renew their membership in NATO for 2004. Members are encouraged to process the membership dues invoice to renew their membership in NATO.

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