A federal district court has temporarily blocked key provisions of Iowa's new vape law, House File 2677 (HF 2677), which aimed to create a directory of permissible vapor products for sale in the state. On May 2, 2025, the court granted a preliminary injunction sought by plaintiffs including Iowans for Alternatives to Smoking & Tobacco, Inc., and Global Source Distribution, LLC, preventing the Iowa Department of Revenue from implementing and enforcing the law's vapor product directory.
HF 2677, enacted in 2024, mandated that vapor products sold in Iowa must either have U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marketing authorization or have a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) filed by September 9, 2020, that remains under FDA review or is subject to ongoing litigation. Plaintiffs argued this state law was preempted by the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), which grants the FDA exclusive authority to regulate tobacco products, and that it violated equal protection by treating synthetic and tobacco-derived nicotine products differently.
The court found that the directory provisions were indeed impliedly preempted by the FDCA, as they created a state-level enforcement mechanism for federal requirements, infringing on the FDA's reserved enforcement discretion. However, the court allowed Iowa to continue enforcing a provision requiring out-of-state manufacturers to appoint an agent for service of process. The equal protection claim was dismissed, with the court finding a rational basis for potentially stricter regulation of synthetic nicotine products.
This ruling highlights the ongoing tension between state and federal authority in regulating vape products. While the injunction is temporary pending further litigation, it impacts similar registry laws being considered or passed in other states. A status conference is scheduled for May 29.
