Proposed California AB 1690
Proposed Legslationa could change the course of the cigarette industry in California.
California AB 1690 Addresses Cigarette Filters and Other Cigarette-Related Items
A new proposed California bill entitled the Smoking Waste Pollution Prevention Act, introduced by Assemblymember Luz Rivas, seeks to ban all single-use smoking products such as cigarette filters, cigarette-related items, including cigarette papers and vape pods in California to reduce the amount of hazardous material from being exposed to the environment. Assembly Bill 1690 aims to reduce their impact on public health and the environment. Discarded non-biodegradable smoking and vaping products have been an issue for many years, causing great harm to many ecosystems and humans with the many dangerous chemicals. In California, roughly 12 billion cigarettes are sold every year, with the city of Los Angeles spending 19 million dollars on cigarette filter cleanup and "public agencies spending more than 41 million dollars annually on sanitation services for cigarette filters alone."
The bill would prohibit selling, giving, or furnishing to a person of any age in California a cigarette/e-cigarette that uses single-use products such as the filter and disposable vape pods. People or entities that violate the law can be subject to civil penalties ranging from $400 to $600 for a first violation, up to $5,000 to $6,000 for the 5th violation within a 5-year period. However, this issue is complex since the public's relationship with cigarettes and other electronic products would be difficult to change with the bill alone. According to Assemblymember Mark Stone, "[w]e never could get it out of the [Governmental Organization] committee here in the Legislature." Many legislators benefit from the tobacco industry, and it would be a matter of these individuals to look past their own needs and desires and act for the greater good. While many support the bill, its passage is pending.
For a detailed summary of Assembly Bill 1690 and supporters of the bill, see Smoking Waste Pollution Prevention Act.
