California: Tobacco Industry Attempts to Block Ban on Flavored Product Sales

A coalition representing the tobacco industry said on November 24, 2020, that it had collected more than a million signatures.[1] who oppose legislation banning the sale of flavored tobacco and nicotine products in California.

With the adoption of the bill SB 793, California became the second state in the country in August 2020 (after Massachusetts) to end the sale of flavored tobacco and nicotine products. The ban includes menthol cigarettes. The legislation passed this year by a landslide, with overwhelming cross-partisan support in both the Assembly and Senate. And it was quickly signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom.

The tobacco industry (Philip Morris USA and its American subsidiary Smokeless Tobacco Co., as well as RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co.) quickly launched massive lobbying actions following this decision. It spent $21 million to collect the signatures necessary to validate the popular initiative referendum.[2]If the Secretary of State's office determines that there are enough signatures to qualify the referendum, the new law, which was set to take effect Jan. 1, would be suspended until after California's gubernatorial election in November 2022. Such a delay would allow the industry to rake in $1.1 billion in revenue from menthol cigarette sales alone during the 22 months the law was delayed.

An attempt to block the industry to save its economic interests

The referendum is one of two prongs in the tobacco industry's attack on the new law. Tobacco companies have also filed a federal lawsuit against the state of California, seeking an injunction to block the new law, arguing that the measure is "disproportionate and would fail to meet legitimate public health objectives regarding youth use of tobacco products."

The tobacco industry also ran television ads ahead of the House vote that claimed that by exempting cigars and hookah tobacco from the ban, lawmakers were giving “special treatment to the wealthy and [stigmatizing] populations of color” by banning menthol cigarettes. In reality, the tobacco industry has targeted communities (African Americans, Latinos, women) with flavored tobacco marketing for decades, and the legislation was specifically designed to stop this aggressive targeted marketing.

The excessive means deployed by tobacco manufacturers to counter a legislative provision is not new, particularly in California. When its interests are threatened, it does not hesitate to resort to different strategies.[3] which seek to push back, weaken or completely block the provision.