US appeals court strikes down part of Indiana vaping law
INDIANAPOLIS — A federal court on Monday struck down a major portion of Indiana’s restrictive vaping law, which created a monopoly for one security firm and sparked an FBI probe.
A three judge-panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled that the law’s strict requirements guiding the production of the nicotine-laced liquid consumed through vaping imposed “unprecedented” and “extraordinary” regulation for out-of-state companies. The ruling effectively ends the stranglehold that Lafayette-based security company Mulhaupt’s Inc. had on deciding who could enter the Indiana e-liquids market, although it applies only to out-of-state manufacturers.
The Legislature first approved Indiana’s vaping law in 2015, ostensibly to create safety standards for “e-liquid” production. The law was amended last year in a way that effectively gave Mulhaupt’s sole discretion to decide who could be certified to produce “e-liquid” sold in Indiana. The law guided everything from requirements for sinks and cleaning products to the details of contracts with outside security firms and the qualifications of those firms’ personnel, the judges wrote.
The appeals court found that the restrictions violated the Constitution’s commerce clause and were “akin to telling out-of-state communities how to run their recycling programs.”