Bill
HB 5250
Prohibits minors under 18 from buying weight‑loss/muscle‑building supplements and OTC diet pills, with ID checks, age verification, and penalties for violations.
Status & timeline
- Filed March 14, 2025; bill text electronically reproduced November 12, 2025.
- Introduced in the Michigan House on November 12, 2025 (primary sponsor Rep. Erin Byrnes); read a first time and referred to the Committee on Health Policy.
- Multiple cosponsors from the House are listed.
Purpose
- To restrict access by minors (under 18) to certain dietary supplements marketed for weight loss or muscle building and to over‑the‑counter (OTC) diet pills; to regulate how these products are sold (physical and virtual); to prescribe recordkeeping, identity‑verification, and civil penalties; and to authorize rulemaking and enforcement by state entities.
Key definitions (selected)
- “Dietary supplement for weight loss or muscle building”: a supplement (per federal definition) labeled/marketed for weight loss, fat burning, appetite control, or muscle building, or containing an ingredient FDA‑regulated for weight loss.
- “Over‑the‑counter diet pills”: OTC drugs marketed for weight loss sold under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
- “Minor”: individual under 18.
- “Retailer,” “virtual sale,” “physical sale,” and “transaction scan” are defined for compliance purposes.
Major provisions
- Prohibition: Retailers may not sell, offer to sell, or otherwise give the covered dietary supplements or OTC diet pills to minors.
- Physical sales: Retailers must require proof of legal age before completing a physical sale. Acceptable IDs are enumerated (state/federal passports, military ID, certain student IDs, tribal IDs, etc.).
- Virtual sales: Retailers must collect full name, birth date, and residential address, and must verify identity/age using commercially available databases that primarily rely on government data, are regularly used for age verification, and are not controlled or alterable by the retailer.
- Delivery: Virtual sales must use shipping methods that (a) prevent a minor from accepting delivery and (b) require the person accepting delivery to present valid ID verifying age.
- Transaction scans: Retailers may use electronic transaction‑scan devices to verify ID. If scan data fail to match the presented ID, the sale must be denied. Scan data retention is limited (name, DOB, ID number, expiration) and prohibited from resale or broad dissemination except as required by law/subpoena. Violation of transaction‑scan rules carries a civil fine up to $1,000 per violation.
- Merchandising: Retailers may, but are not required to, keep these products behind a counter or in locked cases (text truncated beyond this point).
Enforcement and administration
- The bill references the Michigan Board of Pharmacy and the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. It provides for civil sanctions, recordkeeping requirements, and authorizes rulemaking and enforcement by state/local entities.
Who is affected
- Retailers selling these products (brick‑and‑mortar and online), retail clerks, delivery providers, minors (under 18) and their families, and state regulatory agencies. Manufacturers are indirectly affected by changes in retail distribution and age‑verification practices.
Potential impacts
- Expected public‑health objective: reduce youth access to potentially risky weight‑loss/muscle‑building products.
- Compliance costs for retailers: ID verification systems, shipping/age‑verification processes, employee training, and recordkeeping.
- Privacy considerations: limited collection and retention of ID data and restrictions on disseminating transaction‑scan information.
- Penalties: civil fines (including up to $1,000 for certain transaction‑scan violations).
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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