Retailers operating machines that allow their customers to roll their own cigarettes must continue affixing cigarette tax stamps to those products.

On July 3, both the Franklin County Superior Court and the Washington State Supreme Court issued orders dismissing the plaintiffs’ case, which had challenged the tax as requiring a two-thirds vote of the Legislature under Initiative 1053.

The Supreme Court previously issued a temporary stay of the Superior Court’s preliminary injunction. The Supreme Court’s stay allowed the new law to go into effect on July 1, 2012.  Since the case is now dismissed in both courts, the Supreme Court is not required to rule on whether to make its ruling more permanent.

In a related matter, a federal bill was signed into law July 6 that makes retailers offering consumers use of cigarette-making machines subject to federal regulation.