California Panel Approves Six Anti-Tobacco Bills

Measures include raising the smoking age to 21 and banning the use of e-cigarettes in public.

August 21, 2015

SACRAMENTO – This week a California Senate panel approved a package of six anti-tobacco bills that seek to raise the legal smoking age to 21 and ban the use of electronic cigarettes in public places such as restaurants, for example.

The Los Angeles Times reports that both the legal age increase and e-cigarette measures stalled in the state legislature, but were revived for a special session on health care and approved by a new Senate Committee on Public Health and Developmental Services.

The package of six bills seeks to:

  • Add electronic cigarettes to the existing definition of tobacco products;
  • Add hotel lobbies, small businesses, break rooms and tobacco retailers to the list of smoke-free workplaces under state law;
  • Increase the legal age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21;
  • Require all schools in the state to be tobacco-free;
  • Allow local jurisdictions to tax tobacco; and
  • Create an annual Board of Equalization tobacco licensing fee program.

State Sen. Mark Leno proposed the measure to designate e-cigarettes or vaping devices as tobacco products. His bill would also allow sting operations to catch retailers who sell vaping devices to minors and require child-resistant packaging.

State Sen. Ed Hernandez said his bill to increase the smoking age to 21 would significantly reduce the number of young people who take up smoking. “It should not be so easy for our children to get ahold of this deadly drug,” he told the panel.

The news source writes that Pete Conaty, a lobbyist for veterans groups, told the panel that if California residents are old enough to join the military and fight in wars at 18, they should be able to decide whether to smoke.

For information on how you can help mitigate and possibly derail unfair tobacco and other legislation in your state, read “Be Informed, Take Action” in the current issue of NACS Magazine.

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