Posted by Jason B. on May 25th 2020
California Bill SB 793 Passed Senate
California's Senate Health Committee passed a bill on May 13th which has the power to ban all retail sales of any vape product containing flavoring agents other than tobacco.
California's Vape Ban Bill SB 793 Unjust?
Author Jason B. / Category News / Published: May-25-2020
The bill which just passed through the California Senate Health Committee on May 13th has the power to ban selling all tobacco and vape products besides tobacco flavored products. The proposed bill would also restrict sales of "flavor enhancers" meaning flavor additives to mix with non-flavored nicotine liquid. This could mean no more DIY juice for vapers in the future.
Passed through a 8(yay) to 1(nay) vote, bill SB 793 is now set to advance to California's Appropriations Committee. Following the appropriations committee is another committee hearing prior to it's full consideration by California's Senate. State Assembly is expected to see a companion bill and if things go according to play for the yay-sayers, the governor of California will sign the final version.
Luckily, the vaping community has the CASAA on our side and they've issued a call to action. California residents should give great consideration to show their opposition of this unjust bill. If you would like to show your concern and opposition to bil SB 793, click this link: TELL YOUR SENATOR TO OPPOSE THE FLAVOR BAN
Though there is not an existing state ban, there are plenty of cities in the state of California which have pushed a flavor ban through. San Francisco for example banned all vaping products regardless of flavor, so even if you'd vape tobacco flavors and live in the city you're out of luck.
CA Government Solution: Remove Flavors, Tax Vapers
If taking flavors away from citizens sounded bad enough CA governor Gavin Newsom added in his proposed budget, released Thursday May 14th, a "$1-per-20-milligrams nicotine tax". If legislature passes this proposed budget, the tax will go into effect January 1st, 2021. Revenue from the e-cigarette tax would be designated towards a new "special fund". This fund would be directed towards three various purposes including enforcement administration of the proposed taxation, health care programs, and finally tobacco youth prevention programs.
California's Legislative Analysts Office reviewed the governor's 2020-2021 budget and evidence suggests the tax would likely cause a decline in youth and adult e-cigarette use significantly. LAO agrees with the vaping community that CA's administration has not yet given substantial evidence or a valid argument stating e-cigarettes and cigarettes are equally harmful. E-cigarettes are used as a smoking cessation tool around the world, and in some cases there are vape stores in hospitals to encourage active smokers to become ex-smokers.
Reason for all the negativity around e-cigarettes is the "youth epidemic", and what doesn't seem to come up in anti-vaping conversation is "Where are the youth buying these vape products from?". If our government wants to curb the "youth vaping epidemic" and prevent underage people from getting access to these products, where youth is getting access to vaping products should be the most important problem. The vaping community needs everyone to do their part and prevent youth sales of e-cigarettes. If you want to know more about how the FDA is working to prevent youth from gaining access to tobaco products, visit fda.gov for more information.