Bill Text: CA AB1504 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Cigarettes: single-use filters.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-06-05 - From committee without further action pursuant to Joint Rule 62(a). [AB1504 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB1504-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1504 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 2, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Stone
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Ammiano, Bloom, Gonzalez,
Rendon, Skinner, Ting, and Williams
)
( Coauthor: Senator Hueso
)
JANUARY 14, 2014
An act to add Division 8.55 (commencing with Section 22964) to the
Business and Professions Code, relating to single-use
filter cigarettes.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1504, as amended, Stone. Single-use filter cigarettes.
Cigarettes: single-use filters.
Existing law, the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement Act,
requires all persons engaging in the retail sale of tobacco products
to check the identification of tobacco purchasers, to establish the
age of the purchaser, if the purchaser reasonably appears to be under
18 years of age. Under existing law, an enforcing agency, as
defined, may assess civil penalties against any person, firm, or
corporation that sells, gives, or in any way furnishes to another
person who is under 18 years of age, any tobacco, cigarette,
cigarette papers, any other instrument or paraphernalia that is
designed for the smoking or ingestion of tobacco, or products
prepared from tobacco. 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 18 years of age through the United States Postal Service or
through any other public or private postal or package delivery
service at locations, including, but not limited to, public mailboxes
and mailbox stores. Under existing law, a district attorney, city
attorney, or the Attorney General may assess civil penalties against
a violator of that provision of not less than $1,000 or more than
$2,000 for the first violation and up to $10,000 for a 5th 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 to another person who is under 18 years of age any
cigarette, among other specified items, is 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 single-use cigarette filters
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, or other fibrous plastic material, and 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 provide that each violation of that
prohibition is subject to a civil fine of $500, and would
authorize a district attorney or city attorney to assess
that 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.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Division 8.55 (commencing with Section 22964) is added
to the Business and Professions Code, immediately following Section
22963, to read:
DIVISION 8.55. Prohibition on Cigarettes Utilizing
Single-Use Filter Cigarettes Filters
22964. (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) Banning the sale, gift, or other furnishing of cigarettes
with 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.
22965. (a) No person or entity shall 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, or 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.
22966. Each violation of Section 22965 is subject to
(a) A district attorney or city
attorney may assess a civil fine of five hundred dollars ($500)
for each violation of Section 22965 . Only a district
attorney or city attorney may assess the civil fine against each
person determined to be in violation of Section 22965. Fine
Proceedings under this section shall be
conducted pursuant to the procedures of the enforcing agency 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 or district attorney who
assessed the fine.
