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The Pennsylvania state House on Monday approved a pair of bills creating stiffer penalties for shops caught selling electronic cigarettes to minors and banning the sale of synthetic kratom.
House Bill 1434 would hike the fine for a first offense for selling nicotine vapes to underage customers to $5,000 from $100-$500. Under existing law, the fine increases for each subsequent offense, with retailers facing a penalty of $5,000 only after they've been caught three times illegally selling vapes to underage consumers.
The legislation is "about accountability," Rep. Amen Brown, D-Philadelphia, the prime sponsor of the bill, said ahead of Monday's vote. "It's about protecting our children. I support neighborhood businesses. I support small businesses. But I always put our children first."
The legislation was approved by the state House unanimously and now heads to the state Senate for consideration. That chamber only has seven voting days remaining before the end of the legislative session, meaning the bill would need to be fast-tracked by Republicans who control that chamber in order to reach the governor's desk in 2026.
Under HB 1434, a business could lose its license to sell tobacco products the third time it is caught breaking the law by selling vapes to underage consumers. The Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to send the bill to the full House.
Similar bills have been enacted in several states as lawmakers seek to respond to concerns about increased youth vaping.
A law signed by Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs on June 5 signed legislation creating new penalties for retailers caught selling nicotine vapes to underage consumers. Store operators caught breaking the law must attend a "retailer education course" and pay a $50- $750 fine. Stores caught breaking the law three times in less than two years face a $10,000 fine.
California toughened its penalties for illegally selling nicotine vapes to underage consumers in a law that took effect in 2025. There, the penalty for a first offense is a $1,000 fine, escalating to as much as $20,000 for the fifth violation.
Kratom crackdown
The House also approved legislation barring the sale of synthetic kratom and barring the sale of kratom products to those under age 21.
House Bill 2657 was approved unanimously.
The bill's prime sponsor Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, D-Lackawanna, said the bill would establish a responsible "middle ground" that would allow natural kratom products to be sold while barring synthetic versions of the drug.
"This oversight is desperately needed," said Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, the majority chairman of the House Health Committee.
Some synthetic versions of kratom are "more addictive than morphine but easier to buy than cold medicine," Frankel said ahead of the vote.
Commercial kratom products currently on the market -- including powders, capsules, teas and liquid extracts -- vary widely in strength and may contain potent derivatives such as 7-Hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl. These concentrated compounds can produce stronger opioidlike effects than naturally occurring kratom.
Because kratom products are widely available over the counter, including at convenience stores and gas stations, the substance has often been referred to as "gas station heroin," a characterization that reflects concerns about its availability and potential for dependence.
Products would have to be made from natural kratom, carry labels verifying their natural origin and disclose that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated kratom for safety or effectiveness. The bill also would prohibit advertising directed at children and establish civil and criminal penalties for selling synthetic or otherwise adulterated kratom products.
The move comes as poison control centers around the country have been hit with a flood of calls related to kratom. Over the last 11 years, there were almost 14,500 incidents of people seeking help after ingesting kratom. That includes 3,434 reports in 2025.
Most reports involved males and young adults 20-39 years old, but reports among adults age 40-59 increased most sharply, with rates nearly overlapping with those among young adults by 2025.
Kratom was linked to 33 deaths in 2025, according to Department of Health data. Ten months into 2026, kratom has been linked to 17 deaths, roughly half the total of 33 kratom-related deaths reported in the prior year.
A Department of Health spokesperson said the department has no way of knowing how many of the kratom-related deaths involved synthetic kratom products rather than natural kratom.
The state also does not include kratom on its overdose tracking dashboard because kratom-related products account for less than 2% of overdose deaths.