Proposed ban on flavored tobacco products clears California Assembly

A bill to ban the sale of most flavored tobacco products in California cleared a major hurdle Monday when lawmakers in the Assembly voted overwhelmingly to pass it.

Senate Bill 793 passed the Assembly floor with a 50-0 vote, with 30 lawmakers abstaining from voting.

Because the bill was amended in the Assembly to include exemptions for pipe tobacco and cigars worth $12 or more, it now goes back to the Senate for a final vote. The bill also has an exemption for hookah products.

SB 793, authored by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, would penalize retailers who sell flavored tobacco products such as menthol cigarettes or fruit-flavored cigarillos by fining them $250 for each violation.

Its supporters said the bill would protect young people from becoming addicted to tobacco products and improve public health.

The bill has faced heavy opposition, including from the tobacco industry. Opponents argued the bill will result in the state losing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from tobacco taxes, and that its exemptions neglected products favored by some minority communities.

Only one lawmaker spoke out against SB 793: Assemblyman Heath Flora, R-Ripon.

Flora criticized the bill as hypocritical for not going after flavored cannabis products, which he argued are marketed to youths with candy flavors.

“Our kids are smoking cannabis, inhaling it, all day long. But because it’s the new cool kid on the block we leave it alone and we go after tobacco,” Flora said.

Flora was among the lawmakers who abstained from voting on the bill.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network hailed the bill’s passage.

Managing Director Jim Knox said in a statement that his organization “views the public health victory as critically important safeguards that will protect both urban and suburban youth from the ravages of tobacco.”

“Ending the sale of flavored tobacco products is an issue of both health and social justice. Menthol cigarettes are disproportionately used by Blacks, LGBTQ and low-income communities already burdened by tobacco-related disease, including lung cancer. Black men are more likely to be diagnosed and die from lung cancer than any other population,” Knox said.

This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 3:12 PM.