This week, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens granted a temporary injunction to halt the State of Michigan’s ban on flavored e-cigarette and vape products.  In reaching her decision, Judge Stephens claimed the State had failed to demonstrate that there was an urgent situation that required an emergency response.  Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has indicated that she intends to appeal the decision.

• A $1 million proposed funding increase for the CDC’s asthma program, from $29 million in FY2019 to $30 million in FY2020.
• Flat funding at $135 million for the domestic tuberculosis program, in contrast to the House bill’s $10 million funding increase for the program.
• Flat funding at the FY2019 level of $7,2 million for the global TB program, in contrast to the House bill’s $10 million funding increase for the program.
• Flat funding at the FY2019 level for the Office on Smoking and Health at $210 million.
• A $2.5 million proposed funding increase for the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) from $336.3 million in FY2019 to $338.8 million in FY2020. The funding increase is specified for NIOSH’s Firefighter Cancer Registry and for mining research.

Although the Senate FY2020 health spending bill has not yet been voted on by the subcommittee or the full Appropriations Committee due to disagreements over an amendment on reproductive health funding, we expect that it will move forward. Congress now has less than two weeks before the Sept. 30 deadline for finalizing fiscal year (FY) 2020 government spending, otherwise the federal government will shut down. The House is currently working on a temporary spending measure to avert a government shutdown that would extend government funding until after Thanksgiving.  The temporary spending measure must be passed by each chamber and signed into law by the President.