California Will Become the 5th State to Ban Flavors

The California Assembly today passed SB 793, a bill that will ban the sales of flavored vaping products in brick-and-mortar stores. The bill, if it becomes law, will also ban sales of menthol cigarettes, and flavored smokeless tobacco and small cigars.

The vape ban bill will now be reconciled with the already-passed state Senate version (which requires another vote in the Senate), then go to Governor Gavin Newsom to be signed into law. Newsom has already indicated he will sign the bill.

The amendments in the final Assembly version of the bill include exemptions to the flavor ban for hookah products, pipe tobacco and premium cigars. The independent vaping industry—once a force that turned out hundreds of vapers and vape shop owners to oppose California legislation—was barely able to muster any opposition at all, although thousands of individual vapers responded to calls to action and sent messages to legislators opposing the bill.

Even Juul Labs and the major tobacco companies were unable to successfully lobby for an exemption that would exclude products that receive PMTA approval in the future. That means a product could receive marketing approval from the FDA, but still be banned in California.

While the bill only bans sales in brick-and-mortar retailers, California passed a law last year that makes online purchases more difficult. That law placed restrictions on online and mail order sales of all vaping products, including an adult signature-on-delivery requirement.

After weeks of a pressure campaign by some black activist groups to convince minority legislators to oppose the bill based on racial justice, the Democrats who opposed it either changed their votes to yes or didn’t vote at all. The final vote was 50-0, with all 17 Republicans, 12 Democrats and one independent member not voting rather than going on record opposing the state’s powerful tobacco control interests. [Note: the vote was left open after time ran out. The votes now show 58-1.]

It is unlikely that the bill can be stopped now. Tobacco control groups support the current version of the bill—even with the unwanted exemptions for hookah, pipe tobacco and cigars. Those powerful anti-vaping/smoking groups are the real opinion leaders among state Democrats who have majorities in both houses of the California legislature.