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☀️More sunshine with highs in the 70s. Sunset is at 8:13 p.m.

Today GBH’s State House Reporter Katie Lannan is taking us inside a statewide attempt to ban tobacco sales for anyone born after 2006. It’s an interesting method of trying to discourage smoking, vaping, chews, pouches and the like: anyone already old enough to walk into a store and buy cigarettes would be able to keep doing so, but people who have not yet hit the legal age for tobacco sales (21) would never be able to legally buy it in Massachusetts.

Four Things to Know

1. A federal judge in Boston yesterday heard closing arguments in a case over the Trump administration’s pattern of revoking visas and detaining immigrants who organized, participated in or wrote about pro-Palestinian activism.

The plaintiffs, the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association, said they sued because the detentions suppressed free speech and contributed to a “campaign of fear.” They expect a ruling before September.

2. At the first day of arguments in the lawsuit Harvard University filed over the Trump administration’s decision to revoke $2.6 billion in federal research funding, Judge Allison Burroughs asked why the administration cut funding across the board rather than targeting specific programs or labs.

Burroughs said attorneys for the Trump administration provided “no documentation, and no procedure” to determine whether the university’s administrators had or had not taken enough steps to prevent antisemitism. “The consequences of that in terms of constitutional law are staggering,” Burroughs said. “I don’t think you can justify a contract action based on impermissible suppression of speech.”

3. Cities and towns in Western Massachusetts are looking to talk to people whose lives have been shaped by addiction about how to spend the Bay State’s $400 million share of a national settlement with opioid manufacturers.

“We want folks who are actively using. We want folks who are in recovery. We want folks who are grieving,” explained Holyoke city administrator Alicia Zoeller. “We want folks who may find themselves in a life situation that is opioid-related, [such as] a grandparent raising a grandchild.” So far most people have said they’d like to see money go towards harm reduction and affordable housing.

4. It’s been three weeks since sanitation workers working for the trash giant Republic Services went on strike. Malden Mayor Gary Christenson’s community was one of six to file a legal complaint against Republic to try and encourage a resolution.

“This, if you can believe it, is worse than the 2015 snow that we had,” Christenson said. “People are cutting lines, trying to illegally dump. We had one person threaten one of our employees.” But Christenson added: “I have to say, I was quite impressed that even during this time, people are still prioritizing recycling.”

Inside the bill: Will Massachusetts snuff out tobacco sales for anyone born after 2006?

By Katie Lannan

Lawmakers in Massachusetts are considering a bill that would ban the future sale of cigarettes, vapes and other tobacco products to anyone born after 2006 — for the rest of their lives.

If it passes (and that’s not a sure thing — more on that in a bit) no one born after 2006 would be able to buy cigarettes, cigars, vapes, chewing tobacco or nicotine pouches. The law wouldn’t touch products that are meant to help people quit smoking, such as nicotine gum. Anyone born before 2006 would not be affected.

Backers, like bill sponsors Sens. Jason Lewis and John Keenan and Rep. Tommy Vitolo, say it’s a way to keep addictive products out of the hands of teenagers, and keep young people from falling prey to the marketing and social pressures that can lead them into addiction and negative health outcomes down the road.

Opponents say it’s a matter of personal freedom and that, if the Legislature were to adopt this, they’d be infringing on the choices of legal adults. They argue that people who want to smoke or vape can just go to New Hampshire, Rhode Island or another neighboring state and buy whatever they want legally.

With this bill, advocates aim to build on the state’s recent pattern of tightening tobacco-buying laws, as well as a broader trend of cities and towns leading the way with their own municipal-level policies.

Brookline started this off five years ago with an ordinance banning tobacco sales to people born after Jan. 1, 2000. That rule was challenged in the state’s Supreme Judicial Court, which allowed it to stand. After Brookline, another dozen or so towns (mostly north of Boston) have adopted similar policies.

Massachusetts raised its statewide age limit for cigarette sales to 21 in 2018, before Congress followed with a national law the following year, more than a decade after Needham became the first town in the country to make that move. In 2019, Massachusetts became the first state to ban flavored cigarettes and vapes. 

So how likely is this bill to pass?

We should have an idea in about two months, the deadline for the committee to finish reviewing one version of the bill.

One of the clearest ways to gauge whether a bill has support is by looking at how many lawmakers have signed on as cosponsors. This bill hasn’t attracted any additional support beyond the initial three lawmakers— a possible sign that many in the Legislature don’t currently see it as a priority.

One factor that often prompts the Legislature to take action is when enough towns adopt local policies, creating a patchwork of laws across the state that can be difficult for retailers and consumers to navigate. If a critical mass of communities take action, that could propel lawmakers to jump in.