Today there was an article published on The Gothamist accurately titled Bloomberg Is Trying To Snuff Out Your E-Cigs

This is certainly troubling news for the ex-cigarette smokers who have switched to these smoke free vapor products. However, what is also extremely disturbing is that the dozens of citizens who came to the NYC Health Department meeting on May 2nd were specifically told by representatives on the health committee and the Bloomberg administration that the legislation would be amended to specifically exclude ecigarettes. The original bills did not even mention ecigarettes by name. Citizens asked for the language of the bill to be changed to exclude ecigarettes, as there was concern that the bill could be interpreted to apply to ecigarettes due to ambiguous wording. The lawmakers heard the testimony from the citizens and promised to do just that and then they turned around and did the exact opposite. Video of the entire hearing can be found here, and the full text of the session can be read here. For your convenience, you will find below the audio recordings of the persons from the assembly and the Bloomberg administration repeatedly promising the citizens who testified that ecigarettes are not a part of this legislation, and that the bills will be revised to state that fact explicitly. Simply click the links below to hear what they said. Assembly Chairperson Maria Del Carmen Arroyo asks NYC Health Comissioner Thomas Farley if the bill impacts ecigarettes. Farley answers that the bills were written with no intention of addressing electronic cigarettes at all. Farley later goes on to say that ecigs need to be looked at more, that he would be happy to look at them in the future, and he repeats that they are not in the legislation. Arroyo tells the citizens who testified that the Bloomberg administration can amend the legislation to exclude ecigarettes. Councilman James Gennaro tells the citizens that the administration does not want to touch the ecigarettes and that regulating ecigarettes is not our intent rest assured, this is what Im saying. Gregory Conley from CASAA explains how the legislation can be rewritten to exclude ecigarettes. Arroyo responds: we will work on it. Arroyo again tells the citizens that the administration is amenable to clarify the language to exclude ecigarettes from the legislation.

Gennaro tells the citizens that you have my commitment that he will advocate for this [excluding ecigarettes from the legislation] and make sure that we will get this all squared away. Ayorro says that there will be outreach to individuals to help the committee to change the language of the bill to exclude ecigarettes. It is one thing to propose misguided legislation in the name of public health. It is quite another to lie to the face of citizens during testimony at an official NYC Health Committee Hearing. New Yorkers do not deserve to be treated this way.