The legislation will also make sure e-cigarettes are covered under the 1994 Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement (STAKE) Act, which has successfully reduced illegal sales of cigarettes to children. Leno has said he expects it to have a better chance of passing this time around.

Dr. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, is sponsoring the brand new invoice that might increase the price of a pack of cigarettes by $2 – a measure just like his invoice that stalled within the Legislature earlier this year. California’s present 87-cent-per-pack tobacco tax makes the state 33rd within the nation, far under New York, which expenses a tax of $4. Tobacco companies spent heavily to defeat two other tax-increase proposals in the last decade and this summer successfully killed several pieces of legislation seeking to increase tobacco regulations.

A bill introduced by state Sen. Medi-Cal is consuming tens of billions of dollars a year and its costs are rising, with too few doctors serving too many Medi-Cal patients.

Whereas a lot of the dialogue targeted on the first-day ballot outcomes that confirmed a majority of California voters are embracing the reforms launched by the Reasonably priced Care Act – generally referred to as “Obamacare” – the tobacco tax concern was extraordinarily well timed. The state levies are on top of a $1.01 federal tax on cigarettes.

If approved, the tax hike would raise an estimated $1.5 billion in its first year for state health services to low-income families, tobacco-related medical research and anti-smoking programs. That being said, they are likely to face much more opposition. “We lag every state that surrounds us”. The increase would require a two-thirds vote to pass, which means bipartisan support will be needed.

The other bills include a bill to regulate e-cigarettes and another to change the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 – both of which passed a Senate floor vote on Thursday.

Electric cigarette normally contain cigarettes, absorbed directly into lung health once it is warmed within a flavored desired liquid.

His bill would ban the electronic alternatives at restaurants, bars, hospitals, workplaces and other locations where conventional cigarettes are prohibited.

The bill, penned by State Senator Mark Leno and backed by the American Cancer Society, passed earlier this year in the Senate but died in a committee of the State Assembly in July.

“This is important because the fastest growing segment of the e-cigarette market is middle and high school students”, Leno told his colleagues, noting that 11 other states, including Colorado and Minnesota, have similar laws.

“We believe that vapor products are not tobacco products”, Kassel, who is based in San Clemente, Calif., said by telephone.