BOISE (AP) — Idaho officials are joining a growing effort across the country to crack down on "roll-your-own-cigarette" operations they say exploit tax loopholes and jeopardize state settlement agreements with tobacco corporations.

The Senate State Affairs committee passed a bill Friday that would impose a strict permitting process on retailers that allow customers to buy loose-leaf pipe tobacco and roll their own smokes using a machine on site.

Loose pipe tobacco is taxed at a lower rate than cigarettes sold in packs. More than 20 states are trying to ensure these vendors pay higher taxes commensurate with producing cigarettes.

Idaho Deputy Attorney General Brett DeLange says the state must actively regulate these retailers or risk the payments it gets from a 1998 settlement with the nation's five largest tobacco companies.