124 STAT. 1111 PUBLIC LAW 111–154—MAR. 31, 2010 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 1147: CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 156 (2010): Mar. 11, considered and passed Senate. Mar. 17, considered and passed House. (b) BATFE AUTHORITY.—The amendments made by section 4 shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act. SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. If any provision of this Act, or any amendment made by this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act and the application of the Act to any other person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby. SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS CONCERNING THE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT OF THIS ACT. It is the sense of Congress that unique harms are associated with online cigarette sales, including problems with verifying the ages of consumers in the digital market and the long-term health problems associated with the use of certain tobacco products. This Act was enacted recognizing the longstanding interest of Congress in urging compliance with States’ laws regulating remote sales of certain tobacco products to citizens of those States, including the passage of the Jenkins Act over 50 years ago, which established reporting requirements for out-of-State companies that sell certain tobacco products to citizens of the taxing States, and which gave authority to the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to enforce the Jenkins Act. In light of the unique harms and circumstances surrounding the online sale of certain tobacco products, this Act is intended to help collect cigarette excise taxes, to stop tobacco sales to underage youth, and to help the States enforce their laws that target the online sales of certain tobacco products only. This Act is in no way meant to create a precedent regarding the collection of State sales or use taxes by, or the validity of efforts to impose other types of taxes on, out-of-State entities that do not have a physical presence within the taxing State. Approved March 31, 2010. 15 USC 375 note.
