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AB-2308 Cigarettes: single-use filters.(2017-2018)



Current Version: 02/13/18 - Introduced

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AB2308:v99#DOCUMENT

Revised  March 21, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2308

Introduced by Assembly Member Mark Stone
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Chiu)(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Chiu and Friedman)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Kalra, Bloom and Ting)
(Coauthor: Senator Wiener)

February 13, 2018

An act to add Division 8.55 (commencing with Section 22965) to the Business and Professions Code, relating to cigarettes.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2308, as introduced, Mark Stone. Cigarettes: single-use filters.
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 in any way furnishes a cigarette, among other items, 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 through any 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 in any way 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 state findings and declarations of the Legislature regarding the health and safety hazards to residents of the state related to cigarettes utilizing single-use filters. The bill would prohibit a person or entity from selling, giving, or in any way furnishing to another person of any age in this state a cigarette utilizing a single-use filter made of any material, including cellulose acetate, any other fibrous plastic material, or any organic or biodegradable material. 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.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Division 8.55 (commencing with Section 22965) is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:

DIVISION 8.55. Prohibition on Cigarettes Utilizing Single-Use Filters

22965.
 (a) Studies published in the peer-reviewed journal Tobacco Control estimate the percentage of smokers who litter to range from 75 percent to 92 percent, for smokers between 21 and 25 years of age. It is estimated that 845,500 tons of cigarette butts become litter around the globe each year.
(b) Cigarette butts have consistently been the single most-recovered item since collections began among volunteer groups, including the Ocean Conservancy and its International Coastal Cleanup event, which cleans litter in waterways, beaches, and parks in this state.
(c) Although the citation rate for littering cigarette waste is annually about five times that of general litter from vehicles, as reported in the Department of Motor Vehicles’ citation statistics, cigarette butts remain at the top of the list for litter on our highways.
(d) The Department of Transportation has estimated the costs to clean up cigarette butts at forty-one million dollars ($41,000,000) annually.
(e) The City and County of San Francisco has estimated costs for city abatement of cigarette butts at over six million dollars ($6,000,000) annually.
(f) From 2006 to 2008, the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported approximately 12,600 cases of children ingesting cigarettes or cigarette butts. Children under six years of age are especially prone to cigarette butt ingestion.
(g) The well-documented and common occurrence of cigarette butt ingestion by domestic animals points to the larger impact that improperly discarded cigarette butts have on our environment and wildlife.
(h) As early as the mid-1960s, the Surgeon General of the United States judged cigarette filters to be useless in reducing harm to the average smoker.
(i) A 2017 review published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute concluded that filter ventilation has contributed to the rise in lung adenocarcinomas among smokers and recommended that the FDA consider regulating its use, up to and including a ban.
(j) Banning the sale, gift, or other furnishing of cigarettes utilizing single-use filters is necessary to keep toxic litter out of our state’s environment and promote the health and safety of our state’s residents.
(k) In its cigarette and tobacco products tax evasion report for 2012–13, the State Board of Equalization noted that 90.6 percent of cigarette contraband and excise tax evasion was driven by retailer evasion and 9.4 percent by individual consumer evasion. Strong safeguards, including retail inspections, have proven effective in preventing further black market evasion.

22966.
 (a) A person or entity shall not sell, give, or in any way furnish to another person, of any age, in this state, a cigarette utilizing a single-use filter made of any material including, but not limited to, cellulose acetate, any other fibrous plastic material, or any organic or biodegradable material. The prohibition under this subdivision applies to any direct or indirect transaction, whether made in-person in this state or by means of any public or private method of shipment or delivery to an address in this state.
(b) The sale, gift, or other furnishing of one to 20 cigarettes constitutes a single violation of this section.

22967.
 (a) (1) A city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney may assess a civil fine of five hundred dollars ($500) for each violation of Section 22966. Only a city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney may assess the civil fine against each person determined to be in violation of Section 22966.
(2) Proceedings under this section shall be conducted pursuant to the procedures of the enforcing agency that are consistent with Section 131071 of the Health and Safety Code and in accordance with Article 6 (commencing with Section 11425.10) of Chapter 4.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(b) Fine moneys assessed pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the treasury of the city or county, respectively, of the city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney who assessed the fine.

22968.
 A city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney acting as an enforcing agency, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 22950.5, is encouraged, but not required, to develop guidelines for its agency to conduct tobacco control investigations of violations of subdivision (a) of Section 22966 concurrent with investigations of violations of Section 308 of the Penal Code or Division 8.5 (commencing with Section 22950), conducted in accordance with Section 22952, or concurrent with investigations of violations of any tobacco control provisions created by local ordinance in its jurisdiction.

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REVISIONS:
Heading—Lines 2 and 3.
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