(May 4 2016) - Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday enacted California’s most significant new tobacco regulations in decades, signing laws that will place tight restrictions on use of the increasingly popular e-cigarette and make California the second state to raise its smoking age to 21.
Brown signed five closely watched bills, which will also expand smoking restrictions in the workplace and on school properties. California now joins jurisdictions like Hawaii, New York City and San Francisco that have bumped the tobacco-buying age to 21 in an effort to block young people’s route to obtaining tobacco.
But Brown vetoed one measure that would have allowed cities and counties to impose local taxes on tobacco products.
“Although California has one of the lowest cigarette taxes in the nation,” he wrote in his veto message, “I am reluctant to approve this measure in view of all the taxes being proposed for the 2016 ballot.”
For public health advocates, Brown’s embrace marked a rare victory in a statehouse where tobacco interests often stub out anti-smoking bills.
“I am in a great mood this evening,” said Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-Azusa, who authored the bill raising the smoking age. “It’s been decades since we’ve actually done anything to reduce tobacco use.”
He said his measure would save lives and health care costs by removing easy access during the teenage years when most smokers take up the habit.
“It puts the stake in the ground and reaffirms that California is the leader,” he said. “What I hope from this is that the rest of the country follows.”
The political focus for the coalition pushing the bills, which included health groups and organized labor, now shifts to winning a $2-a-pack tax through a November ballot initiative.
Brown’s signature dealt a rebuke to the burgeoning electronic cigarette industry. While soaring adolescent vaping rates have public health officials worried about a new wave of addiction, e-cigarette advocates call their product a safer alternative to tobacco that can help smokers quit.
Read more: HERE
Brown signed five closely watched bills, which will also expand smoking restrictions in the workplace and on school properties. California now joins jurisdictions like Hawaii, New York City and San Francisco that have bumped the tobacco-buying age to 21 in an effort to block young people’s route to obtaining tobacco.
But Brown vetoed one measure that would have allowed cities and counties to impose local taxes on tobacco products.
“Although California has one of the lowest cigarette taxes in the nation,” he wrote in his veto message, “I am reluctant to approve this measure in view of all the taxes being proposed for the 2016 ballot.”
For public health advocates, Brown’s embrace marked a rare victory in a statehouse where tobacco interests often stub out anti-smoking bills.
“I am in a great mood this evening,” said Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-Azusa, who authored the bill raising the smoking age. “It’s been decades since we’ve actually done anything to reduce tobacco use.”
He said his measure would save lives and health care costs by removing easy access during the teenage years when most smokers take up the habit.
“It puts the stake in the ground and reaffirms that California is the leader,” he said. “What I hope from this is that the rest of the country follows.”
The political focus for the coalition pushing the bills, which included health groups and organized labor, now shifts to winning a $2-a-pack tax through a November ballot initiative.
Brown’s signature dealt a rebuke to the burgeoning electronic cigarette industry. While soaring adolescent vaping rates have public health officials worried about a new wave of addiction, e-cigarette advocates call their product a safer alternative to tobacco that can help smokers quit.
Read more: HERE
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