BATON ROUGE — The House Judiciary Committee voted to report House Bill 412, a measure from Representative Romero to permit sales of non-tobacco (synthetic) nicotine pouches in Louisiana under regulatory conditions tied to federal review.

Proponents — including company representatives and the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control — told the committee the bill is intended to align state rules with federal regulatory timelines and to allow legitimate manufacturers to compete in the market while state regulators and law enforcement step up enforcement against illicit imports.

Ashley Keane, director of state government affairs for ITG Brands, described the regulatory timeline for synthetic nicotine. She told the committee that Congress clarified FDA jurisdiction over synthetic nicotine in April 2022 and that her company filed a premarket tobacco application in 2022. “We continue to be under review with the Food and Drug Administration,” she said, and asked the committee to allow products in the regulatory queue to be sold here while they undergo FDA review.

Alcohol and Tobacco Control Commissioner Ernest Leger testified the ATC supported the bill and described the state’s 2023 product directory and the reason the committee had originally adopted a 2020 cutoff tied to FDA guidance. Leger said the amendment and bill changes would allow “a product, a cessation product that would normally meet the requirements, to be included … as a product legally for sale within the state of Louisiana,” and stressed the department’s intent to strengthen enforcement of illicit online sales.

Opposition testimony came from Chad Rogers, a former vape-shop owner who told the committee that regulatory changes in prior years and an excise-tax increase shuttered many small retailers. Rogers said the earlier registry law “did not clean up the industry. It wiped out the people trying to do the right thing.” He argued the committee should avoid creating a pathway that advantages large national manufacturers while small American vapor manufacturers and independent retailers remain disadvantaged.

Committee members pressed industry and regulators on the statute’s dates and the meaning of FDA review. Representative Jordan asked about the April–May 2022 dates; Keane and ATC staff explained the dates reflect the timeline for Congress and FDA jurisdiction and the practical problem that many products remain in a long federal review queue.

Representative Green moved the bill favorably; the committee reported HB412 out without recorded opposition at the Judiciary committee level.

Committee members said they expected additional technical amendments on the House floor to strengthen enforcement, limit illicit imports and clarify online-sale enforcement. The transcript records multiple support cards from trade groups and manufacturers and a single in-person opposition witness.