SB 424

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Under existing law, the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement Act, an enforcing agency, as defined, may assess civil penalties against any person, firm, or corporation that sells, gives, or furnishes specified tobacco and cigarette related items, including cigarette papers, to a person who is under 21 years of age, except as specified. The existing civil penalties range from $400 to $600 for a first violation, up to $5,000 to $6,000 for a 5th violation within a 5-year period. Existing law prohibits the sale, distribution, or nonsale distribution of tobacco products directly or indirectly to any person under 21 years of age through the United States Postal Service or other public or private postal or package delivery service. Under existing law, a district attorney, city attorney, or the Attorney General may assess civil penalties against a violator of not less than $1,000 or more than $2,000 for the first violation and up to $10,000 for a 5th or subsequent violation within a 5-year period. Under existing law, 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 furnishes a cigarette, among other specified items, to another person who is under 21 years of age is, except as specified, subject to either a criminal action for a misdemeanor or to a civil action brought by a city attorney, a county counsel, or a district attorney, punishable by a fine of $200 for the first offense, $500 for the 2nd offense, and $1,000 for the 3rd offense. This bill would prohibit a person or entity from selling, giving, or furnishing to another person of any age in this state a cigarette utilizing a single-use filter made of any material, an attachable and single-use plastic device meant to facilitate manual manipulation or filtration of a tobacco product, and a single-use electronic cigarette or vaporizer device. The bill would prohibit that selling, giving, or furnishing, whether conducted directly or indirectly through an in-person transaction, or by means of any public or private method of shipment or delivery to an address in this state. This bill would authorize a city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney to assess a $500 civil fine against each person determined to have violated those prohibitions in a proceeding conducted pursuant to the procedures of the enforcing agency, as specified. (2) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid waste, including, among other solid waste, single-use carryout bags and single-use plastic straws. This bill would require the manufacturer of a tobacco product to use materials eligible for recycling under state or local recycling programs, including electronic waste recycling programs, in existence as of January 1, 2020, to make any reusable component of the tobacco product, or, alternatively, if certain conditions are met, to collect reusable components that are not eligible for recycling through a take-back or mail-back program, as provided. The bill would define "reusable component" to mean a multiuse cigarette filter or a multiuse electronic cigarette that is designed to work for at least one year with daily use. The bill would require a manufacturer to collect reusable components that are household hazardous waste, as defined, and send those components to the appropriate recycler, or to reimburse household hazardous waste collection facilities, as defined, for the costs of collecting and recycling those reusable components. The bill would authorize the department to impose an administrative penalty, as provided, on a manufacturer that is in violation of these provisions. The bill would authorize the department to collect a fee that does not exceed the reasonable regulatory costs of enforcing and administering these provisions from the manufacturer of a tobacco product with a reusable component, and to adopt regulations to implement these provisions.