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About the Texas STEP
Institute
Located at Texas State
University-San Marcos, as a department level institute in the Department of Criminal Justice,
within the College of
Applied Arts, Texas Statewide Tobacco Education & Prevention
Institute (Texas STEP) provides Texas law enforcement agencies
advanced training, technical assistance and public awareness information
regarding tobacco law compliance, as well as researching best practices and protocols to enforce
the laws along with ways to increase tobacco awareness at the
community level.
Texas STEP was founded in 1993
to develop and provide training and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies after the passage
of the Federal SYNAR Amendment. Aimed at reducing youth access
to tobacco products by eliminating the illegal sale of tobacco to children, this law
provides for comprehensive retailer education & inspections of retailers by law
enforcement to ensure compliance.
Participating law enforcement agencies
receive updates on the law, are provided strategies and curricula on compliance education,
are informed on the health consequences of youth tobacco use, are made aware of their
legal reporting responsibilities, and can receive in-service training on the enforcement
protocols.
In 1997, Texas put into effect one of the strongest and
most comprehensive tobacco laws in the country with the passage of Senate Bill 55, 75th
Legislature. The state legislature placed authority
for tobacco enforcement in the hands of the Texas Comptroller of
Public Accounts (CPA) and then established grants to be made to local law enforcement
agencies to assist the Comptrollers' office in the enforcement of the new tobacco laws.
The CPA is responsible for administering these grants.
Texas STEP plays an integral role in the implementation of Senate Bill 55, 75th
Legislature. Our contracted responsibilities include the
following:
- Provide training and technical assistance to
Texas law enforcement
agencies regarding state and federal tobacco laws
- Administer the Comptroller's
Tobacco Compliance Grant program and associated grant activities.
- Receive and distribute all tobacco complaint violations
received through the Texas Tobacco Hotline to jurisdictional law
enforcement agencies and the Comptroller's Criminal
Investigations Division.
- Receive, track and report on all Texas law enforcement activity
regarding tobacco enforcement and compliance education.
- Administer the Comptroller's Tobacco
Seller Training curriculum certification program.
- Conduct the Synar Framework Coverage
Study of tobacco retailers in Texas.
- Administer the Comptroller's Youth
& Tobacco Helpline.
- Administer the Comptroller's Tobacco
Retailer & Seller Training Helpline.
Additionally, Texas STEP serves as
the data warehouse of enforcement and compliance education information for
all reporting law enforcement
agencies and school districts with school-based police services.
The Texas STEP
Institute acts as the
Comptroller’s liaison to all tobacco compliance grant recipients. Our office is the
grant agencies’ first point of contact. All information regarding any tobacco
compliance, awareness, prevention, and education activity conducted by a grant agency is
reported to Texas STEP. Texas STEP provides oversight for these activities and regularly
monitors and communicates with the grant funded agency insuring that they are successful
in implementing their grants, and ultimately benefitting their
communities.
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