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District Judge William Skretny because he has a similar suit before him, filed by a group of Indian and non-Indian online tobacco sellers.Both suits seek to have the state's 2000 law prohibiting the shipment of cigarettes to discount cigarettes online store most individuals in New York declared unconstitutional. The state began enforcing the law last week.A status conference in the initial federal case was scheduled for Friday.A state court lawsuit challenging the state's ban on Internet cigarette sales has been moved to federal court, where a similar case is pending.The suit was filed in state court last week on behalf of two Seneca Indian Nation tobacco retailers, Anna Ward and Barry Snyder Jr.Court officials said it was transferred to U.S.

Backers of legislation that would crack down on Internet cigarette sales are turning to the House after winning a victory last month in the Senate.Their lobbying efforts will focus on a bill (H.R. 2824) sponsored discount cigarettes online store by Reps. Mark Green (R-Wis.) and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) that would update the 1949 Jenkins Act to ensure that Internet sellers of tobacco pay the same taxes and abide by the same regulations that bricks-and-mortar stores do.The Green-Meehan bill stalled after passing out of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property in October, mainly over how the new requirements would be enforced in Indian tribes, but supporters are optimistic that House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) will advance the bill to a full committee markup this session.
Internet sellers typically have flouted requirements to pay state taxes, enabling them to undersell vastly their competitors, a 2002 General Accounting Office (GAO) report found. A recent study by Forrester Research discount cigarettes online store predicted that online retailers would have a 14 percent market share by 2005.We want to make sure all tobacco retailers are playing by the same rules, said Allison Shulman, a lobbyist for the National Association of Convenience Stores, a trade group with members who rely heavily on cigarette sales for profits. All tobacco retailers, no matter where theyre located, [should] bear the same tax burdens and abide by the same regulatory obligations.Many online sellers are able to exploit considerable differences from state to state in rates of tobacco excise taxes. New Jersey charges $2.05 per pack, the highest in the nation, discount cigarettes online store while Virginia brings in only 3 cents per pack.

A Senate bill (S. 1177) on this issue passed by unanimous discount cigarettes online store consent in the closing moments of the last session after the bills sponsors, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and committee member Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), worked out a compromise with the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.), and the panels ranking Democrat, Sen. Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), over provisions that would affect Indian tribes.Campbell and Inouye voiced concerns raised by tribes that the bill would broaden states abilities to enforce laws on Indian lands. We''re not opposed to enforcement of tobacco taxes, said John Dossett, discount cigarettes online store a lobbyist for the National Congress of American Indians. Were objecting to state governments enforcing federal laws in Indian country.

Lobbyists and congressional aides expect tribal issues to dominate discount cigarettes online store debate over the House bill much as they did on the Senate side. The 2002 GAO report found that 59 percent of the Internet tobacco sites surveyed with Web addresses such as www.notaxsmokes.com and www.senecasmokeshop.com were connected with Indian tribes.Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over Indian issues, already has sent a letter to House Republican leadership requesting that the bill be referred to his committee.Backers of Green-Meehan would like to avoid Resources, where they expect the bill to be discount cigarettes online store modified to favor tribes.In the Senate, the Judiciary and Indian Affairs committees were able to achieve agreement among tribes, public health groups and industry representatives by inserting language explicitly stating that the bill would not alter tribal sovereignty and by placing a greater emphasis on federal enforcement over state enforcement.We think the bill passed by the Senate is a good, strong bill that will address tobacco-tax evasion and prevent and reduce underage smoking, said Eric Lindblom, manager for policy research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Public-health groups favor enforcing state tobacco discount cigarettes online store taxes to discourage smoking through higher prices.

A spokesperson for Meehan said that he was hoping to work out an agreement with tribal groups either during consideration of the bill in the Judiciary Committee or during conference. He also wanted to add a provision that discount cigarettes online store elevated the penalty for violations of the Jenkins Act which allows states to enforce tobacco excise taxes from a misdemeanor to a felony, which would parallel a measure in the Senate-passed bill.The Senate bill contained provisions that would ban commercial shipping of tobacco products through the U.S. mails and would require private shippers such as United Parcel Service and FedEx to verify that appropriate state taxes had been paid on tobacco shipments.The Online Tobacco Retailers Association (OLTRA), which represents 25 Internet cigarette sellers and a handful of small tobacco manufacturers, has consistently opposed the tobacco tax legislation. We think the Jenkins Act is outdated, said Ali Davoudi, executive director of the group. Smokers are always being unduly burdened by additional taxes.Smaller cigarette manufacturers, including some OLTRA members, are concerned that tobacco tax legislation will solidify the discount cigarettes online store dominant market position of Philip Morris USA, maker of the best-selling Marlboro brand. Online retailers typically offer a broader selection of cigarette brands, including those made by independent manufacturers, than do convenience stores or gas stations.Mark Berlind, legislative counsel for Philip Morris''s parent company, Altria, did not specify whether the company supports H.R. 2824 but said it favored enhanced enforcement of state excise taxes.

Philip Morris also has been active on a separate issue related discount cigarettes online store to escrow payments made by small cigarette manufacturers that did not participate in the landmark 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between tobacco manufacturers and the states. The Senate bill beefs up the states abilities to enforce escrow payments, a measure Philip Morris had sought.Davoudi called the provision a death sentence for small manufacturers.