AB 1639

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law, the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement (STAKE) Act, prohibits a person from selling or otherwise furnishing tobacco products, as defined, to a person under 21 years of age. The STAKE Act requires a person engaged in the retail sale of tobacco products to check the identification of a tobacco purchaser to establish the purchaser's age if the purchaser reasonably appears to be under 21 years of age. This bill would, among other things, require a person engaged in the retail sale of tobacco products to use age verification software or an age verification device to establish the age of a tobacco purchaser. The act requires the State Department of Public Health to, among other things, establish and develop a program to reduce the availability of tobacco products to persons under 21 years of age through enforcement activities, and conduct random, onsite sting inspections at retail sites. The act authorizes the department to also conduct onsite sting inspections in response to public complaints or at retail sites where violations have previously occurred. This bill would, among other things, instead require the department to conduct random, onsite sting inspections at retail sites of at least 20% of the total number of licensed tobacco retailers, and in the event of a violation at a retail site, would require the department to conduct a 2nd sting inspection at that retail site within 6 months of the first violation, and a 3rd sting inspection within 12 months of the first violation. The act imposes specified civil penalties for the furnishing of tobacco products to a person under 21 years of age. Existing law imposes additional civil penalties in the amount of $250 for a 3rd, 4th, and 5th violation, requires a 45-day suspension of the license to sell tobacco or cigarettes for a 3rd violation at the same location within a 5-year period, a similar 90-day suspension of the license for a 4th violation, and a revocation of the license for a 5th violation. This bill would decrease the 5-year period for calculating the civil penalties and license suspensions and revocations for violations to a 36-month period and increase the penalty amount for a first, 2nd, and 3rd or subsequent violation imposed by an enforcement agency, as specified. The bill would instead impose the additional $250 civil penalty and the license suspensions and revocation for the first, 2nd, and 3rd violations in a 36-month period, and would require a 60-day suspension of the license for the first violation, except as specified, a 90-day suspension for the 2nd violation, and a revocation of the license for a 3rd violation. The bill would also prohibit anyone under 21 years of age from entering a tobacco store, as defined, except for active duty military personnel who are 18 years of age or older, as specified. (2) Existing law, the California Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003, provides for the licensure by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration of manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers, and retailers of cigarette or tobacco products that are engaged in business in California. The act prohibits retailers, manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers from distributing or selling those cigarette and tobacco products unless they are licensed. The act authorizes the board to suspend or revoke the license of any manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, importer, or retailer of tobacco products that is in violation of the act's provisions. Existing law makes a violation of the act a misdemeanor. This bill, commencing 90 days after the effective date of the bill, would prohibit a licensed retailer from selling a non-tobacco-flavored vapor product, as specified, or a single-use electronic cigarette, as defined. The bill would authorize the State Department of Public Health to assess specified civil penalties for each violation. (3) Existing law makes every person, firm, or corporation that knowingly or under circumstances in which it has knowledge, or should otherwise have grounds for knowledge, sells, gives, or in any way furnishes to another person who is under 21 years of age any tobacco, cigarette, cigarette papers, or blunt wraps, or any other preparation of tobacco, or any other instrument or paraphernalia that is designed for the smoking or ingestion of tobacco, tobacco products, or any controlled substance, subject to either a criminal action for a misdemeanor or a civil action, punishable by a fine, as specified. This bill would instead subject a person described above to that criminal or civil fine, specified community service, or the criminal or civil fine and community service. (4) Existing law requires that cartridges for electronic cigarettes and solutions for filling or refilling an electronic cigarette be in child-resistant packaging, as defined. This bill would create various advertising, promoting, packaging, and selling prohibitions on electronic cigarettes, including, among others, prohibiting an electronic cigarette manufacturer from advertising, promoting, or packaging the electronic cigarette in a manner that is attractive to persons under 21 years of age, as specified, or is intended to encourage persons under 21 years of age to use the device, prohibiting a person from displaying on an electronic cigarette, or on its packaging, an indication or illustration that could cause a person to believe that the product is flavored if there is reasonable belief that the indication or illustration could be appealing to persons under 21 years of age. The bill would authorize the State Department of Public Health to assess specified civil penalties for each violation. (5) Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , approved by the voters as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of cannabis for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. This bill would amend AUMA by, among other things, commencing 90 days after the effective date of the bill, prohibiting a licensed retailer from selling an artificially-flavored vapor product, as defined. The bill would also prohibit the use of flavors not derived from the cannabis plant or other natural botanical sources or flavors derived or synthesized from tobacco in the production of cannabis products that can be used to deliver cannabis to a person in aerosolized or vaporized form. The bill would authorize the licensing authority to issue a citation for each violation. AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend the act to further the purposes and intent of the act with a 23 vote of the membership of each house of the Legislature. This bill would declare that its provisions further specified purposes and the intent of AUMA. (6) The Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law, the violation of which is a crime, imposes a tax on distributors of cigarettes at the rate of $2.87 per package of 20 cigarettes and a tax on distributors of tobacco products, based on wholesale cost, at a rate determined annually that is equivalent to the combined rate of all taxes imposed on cigarettes plus an additional rate equivalent to $0.50 per package of 20 cigarettes. These taxes are inclusive of the taxes imposed under the Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Act of 1988, the California Families and Children Act of 1998, and the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016. The California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016 (Proposition 56) , an initiative measure approved at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, revised the definition of tobacco products to include electronic cigarettes, thereby extending the taxes on distributors of tobacco products to distributors of electronic cigarettes, which is based on the wholesale cost of these products. Proposition 56 requires the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to adopt regulations providing for the implementation of the equivalent tax on electronic cigarettes and the methods for collection of the tax. This bill would impose, commencing January 1, 2021, an additional tax on electronic cigarettes at a rate of $2.40 per every 40 milligrams of base product nicotine contained in the electronic cigarette, as specified. The bill, commencing January 1, 2021, would require a manufacturer of any electronic cigarette offered for sale in this state to include, on its sales invoice, the amount of base product nicotine contained in the product that is clearly identified by the milligrams. The bill would require, commencing January 1, 2021, on or before the 25th day of each month, every wholesaler of electronic cigarettes to file a report in the form, as prescribed by the department, which may include, but not be limited to, electronic media respecting the wholesaler's inventory, purchases, and sales of electronic cigarettes during the preceding month. The bill would require the revenues, interest, and penalties derived from the tax imposed above to be deposited into a newly created fund, the California Healthy Families Health Care Access Fund, which would be continuously appropriated for specified health-related purposes. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. By imposing new requirements in the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law, the violation of which is a crime, the bill would also impose a state-mandated local program. (7) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (8) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.