California Highlights

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States and in California. To address this enormous toll, the American Lung Association calls for the following actions to be taken by California's elected officials:

In 2023, California continued its progress and nationwide leadership on tobacco control. The California legislature passed Senate Bill 626 (Senator Rubio), smoking in the workplace: transient lodging establishments, which makes all hotel and motel guestrooms and transient lodging establishments 100% smokefree. By eliminating the existing exemption in state law that permits hotels and motels to allow smoking in up to 20% of guestroom accommodations, it is now illegal to smoke completely in hotels and motels.

California Governor Gavin Newsom continued to protect workers from secondhand smoke by vetoing Assembly Bill 374 (Assemblymember Haney), which would have allowed cannabis consumption lounges to sell non-cannabis infused food and host live entertainment, thereby exposing workers to secondhand smoke.

In addition to these significant achievements, the California legislature passed Assembly Bill 935 (Assemblymember Connolly), which added enforcement language to Californias statewide flavored tobacco law. The bill makes provisions of the flavored tobacco law punishable by civil penalties similar to the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement (STAKE) Act.

Throughout 2023, localities across the state continued their efforts to pass comprehensive flavored tobacco laws, in some cases stronger than state law. This included Marin County, Kern County, Monterey, as well as the city of Stockton. In addition to the local flavored tobacco ordinances, progress continued on other comprehensive tobacco control measures across the state in large and small localities. Localities also passed laws prohibiting smoking in multiunit housing, making certain outdoor locations smoke-free, and to reduce the number and density of tobacco retailers. California's Proposition 56, approved by voters in 2016, increased the state cigarette tax by $2.00 per pack, and continues to direct much-needed funds to California's Tobacco Control Program, helping tobacco users quit and preventing children from starting.

In 2024, the American Lung Association will monitor the implementation of Californias state flavored tobacco product law and encourage local communities to pass more robust policies that close state law loopholes. The Lung Association will also continue our work to pass other local tobacco control policies, focusing on restricting tobacco product sales and limiting exposure to secondhand smoke.