INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A state Senate panel has advanced a bill to drastically overhaul the Indiana 2016 vaping industry law that granted a monopoly to one company and sparked an FBI probe last summer.
Logansport Republican state Sen. Randy Head's measure was approved Wednesday on an 8-1 vote, clearing the way for the bill to be taken up by the full Senate.
Lawmakers passed a vaping law last year ostensibly to ensure consumer safety. It imposed strict safety standards for manufacturers of the nicotine-laced "e-liquid" used in vaping.
But Lafayette-based Mulhaupt's Inc. was the only company that was qualified to handle security permitting for producers under the law. And Mulhaupt's approved only six companies to produce.
Head's bill removes provisions from the law that created a monopoly for Mulhaupt's.
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