LEXINGTON, Ky. — Governor Andy Beshear, Ky-D, signed House Bill 11 into law in early April. It’s a bill that bans retailers from selling unauthorized vapor products. The wording of the bill has vape store owners concerned, and a lawsuit was filed shortly after it was passed to address this.

Tony Florence, the owner of 723 Vapor and a Kentucky Hemp Association board member, has concerns with HB 11. Those who oppose the bill say it would ban any vapor product.

“Due to the poor wording of some definitions, HB 11 will ban hemp vapables, in the future medical marijuana vapables, mushroom vapables, anything that can be vaped or vaporized as a product,” Florence said. “It technically bans even your humidifier in your home.”

HB 11 will go into effect in Jan. 2025.

“As it stands, just the way it is, this bill would totally extinguish the industry,” Florence said.

However, vape store retailers, like 723 Vapor, along with the Kentucky Hemp Association and the Kentucky Smoke Free Association have filed a lawsuit against the state. They are calling the bill unconstitutional.

“I’m hoping that the judge, whichever judge that is who looks at it, will be able to easily understand like, hey this was not the intent and some changes need to be made, and this will kind of fix the bill so it’s more palatable to multiple industries,” Florence said.

While many of the products that are sold at 723 Vapor will likely be banned in January, Florence hopes that the lawsuit will help with fixing some of the wording to be able to continue selling hemp vape products.

The intent behind this bill is to try to keep vape products out of the hands of children. Florence says that vapor stores cater to adults and that stores are either 21 and up or age-gated to prevent kids from accessing the products.