BILL ANALYSIS
AB 178
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 178 (Koretz)
As Amended August 24, 2005
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |44-33|(June 1, 2005) |SENATE: |> |(>) |
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Original Committee Reference: G.O.
SUMMARY : Prohibits the sale of cigarettes that do not meet
specified fire safety standards beginning January 1, 2007.
Establishes fire safety certification requirements. Establishes
new civil penalties for violations.
The Senate amendments :
1)Change the operative date of this bill from January 1, 2006 to
January 1, 2007.
2)Require the cigarette manufacturer to file written
certification to the State Fire Marshal (SFM) instead of the
Attorney General (AG) and Bureau of Home Furnishings and
Thermal Insulation (Bureau) that the cigarettes have been
tested and meet the performance standards required by this
bill.
3)Change the date from January 1, 2006 to January 1, 2007, in
which distributors, wholesalers, or retailers to may sell
their inventory of cigarettes if they can establish that
California tax stamps or meter impressions were affixed to the
cigarettes before January 31, 2007, and the inventory was
purchased before January 1, 2007, in comparable quantity to
the inventory purchased during the same period of 2005.
4)Require manufacturers to keep cigarette test data on file for
three years after recertification in addition to the
requirement that they keep test data on file after the date of
initial certification.
5)Require manufacturers to provide cigarette test data, upon
request, to the AG and the SFM instead of the AG and the
Bureau.
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6)Require the SFM instead of the Bureau to approve proposed or
modified markings before cigarettes can be sold in the state.
7)Allow a marking in use and approved for the sale of cigarettes
in the State of New York to be deemed approved.
8)Authorize a law enforcement agency in addition to the Board of
Equalization (BOE) to seize and dispose of any cigarettes that
have been sold or offered for sale that do not comply with the
performance standard required by this bill.
9)Authorize a law enforcement agency or BOE, to seize
noncompliant cigarettes that any person offers for sale or has
sold, in addition to possess. Eliminate the requirement that
seized cigarettes shall be deemed forfeited.
10) Authorize inspections to occur at any place where
cigarettes are sold, offered for sale, or stored or at any
site where there is evidence of a violation of this bill.
11) Authorize the allocation of monies from the Cigarette Fire
Safety and Firefighter Protection Fund to offset the
administrative costs of BOE and SFM instead of BOE and the
Bureau.
EXISTING LAW establishes a statewide licensing and enforcement
program to control the import, distribution, and sale of tobacco
products, under the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law which
is administered by BOE.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill would have prohibited the
sale, offer, or possession for sale in this state cigarettes
that do not meet specified fire safety standards. Specifically,
the bill would have:
1)Prohibited the sale, offer, or possession for sale of
cigarettes in California unless the manufacturer of those
cigarettes certifies to the AG and the Bureau that the
cigarettes have been tested by the manufacturer in accordance
with standards established by the American Society of Testing
and Materials (ASTM) or an equivalent standard adopted by the
Bureau, as specified, and no more than 25% of the cigarettes
it manufactures exhibit full-length burns when tested.
Requires the cigarette packaging to be marked in accordance
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with the marking requirements of this bill.
2)Authorized distributors, wholesalers, or retailers to sell its
inventory of cigarettes existing on January 1, 2006, if it can
be established that California tax stamps were affixed to the
cigarettes before January 1, 2006, or the inventory purchased
before January 1, 2006, is comparable to the inventory
purchased during the same period of 2005.
3)Required cigarette manufacturers to:
a) Keep on file for three years the cigarette test data and
to provide that information, upon request, to the Bureau or
the AG;
b) Request the Bureau to approve markings before the
manufacturers can certify cigarettes;
c) Submit written certification, which shall be good for
three years, to the AG and the Bureau for those cigarettes
that have been tested and meet the performance standards
prescribed by the bill; and,
d) Provide a copy of the certification to all distributors
and wholesalers and an adequate number of illustrations of
the cigarette packaging marking that the distributors and
wholesalers in turn can give to its retailers.
4)Required the Bureau to approve proposed or modified markings
before those markings may be certified or applied to any
packaging of cigarettes. Specified that proposed marking
shall be deemed approved if the Bureau fails to act with 10
business days of receiving a request for approval.
5)Imposed a civil penalty on manufacturers, wholesalers, and
others who knowingly sell or offer to sell cigarettes in
violation of these provisions, on retailer dealers who
knowingly sell or offer to sell cigarettes in violation of
these provisions, and on manufactures that knowingly make
false certifications in violation of these provisions.
6)Authorized the AG to bring an action on behalf of the people
of the state to further restrain violation of this part and
for any other relief that may be appropriate. Authorized the
AG to recover its costs, as specified, of such action.
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7)Required all wholesalers or retailers to permit BOE to inspect
cigarette packaging to ensure compliance with the marking
requirement. Imposed a civil penalty for refusing to allow an
inspection.
8)Authorized BOE to seize cigarettes to which tax stamps or
metered impressions are affixed but the cigarettes are in
violation this part.
9)Became inapplicable if federal fire safety standards for
cigarettes that preempt this act are enacted and take effect
subsequent to the effective date of this act and BOE so
notified Secretary of State.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, costs offset by civil
penalties.
COMMENTS : Purpose of this bill: This bill would establish a
fire safe cigarette program in California that mirrors the
statutory and regulatory requirements of those in effect in New
York. It would prohibit, beginning January 1, 2007, the sale of
cigarettes in California that do not meet the standards
established by ASTM protocol for measuring the ignition strength
of cigarettes. It requires the manufacturers to certify that
cigarettes meet California's standards and creates new crimes
and penalties for violations. This bill would become
inoperative should federal cigarette safety standards that are
determined to be equivalent or stronger than California's
standards become effective.
Background: According to the National Fire Protection
Association, cigarettes are the leading cause of fatal deaths
and the third leading cause of fire-related injuries in the
United States. Each year approximately 1,000 Americans die from
cigarette related fires and another 2,000 are injured, resulting
in $400 million in direct property damages. More than one-third
of all cigarette-related fire injuries and deaths occur to
persons that do not smoke. Many fires began due to someone
abandoning or improperly disposing of a cigarette.
Legislative efforts to require fire safe cigarettes began as
early as 1979 in the State of Oregon. In California, that
effort began in 1983 when former Senator John Garamendi
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introduced a bill on fire safe cigarettes. The following year
11 other states proposed similar legislation. All those efforts
failed.
In 2000, the State of New York successfully enacted legislation
requiring the Department of State's Office of Fire Prevention
and Control to adopt standards for fire safe cigarettes by
January 2003. The New York law became effective on June 28,
2004, which only allowed cigarettes that met the fire safe
standards to be legally sold in the state.
The New York standards set a minimum performance requirement for
cigarettes which are to be tested in accordance with ASTM
(E2187-02b). The standard requires a lit cigarette to be placed
on 10 layers of filter paper in a draft-free environment and
then observed to determine whether or not the cigarette burns
its full length. A cigarette brand is in compliance if 75% or
more of two packs (40 cigarettes) tested, self-extinguish.
The New York statute also required the Office of Fire Prevention
and Control, in conjunction with the New York Department of
Health, to consider whether cigarettes manufactured in
accordance with the new standards result in increased health
risks to consumers. The Department of Health examined the issue
and advised that cigarettes complying with the fire safety
standards were not expected to significantly change the
inherently high risks associated with cigarette smoking.
A study released in January 2005 by the Harvard School of Public
Health titled, "The Effect of the New York State Cigarette Fire
Safety Standard on Ignition Propensity, Smoke Toxicity, and the
Consumer Market," compared smoke constituent yields in reduced
ignition propensity (RIP) cigarettes sold in New York versus
non-RIP cigarettes sold elsewhere. The study found only slight
increases of selected toxic constituents in some brands of
cigarettes. The report concluded that there is no evidence that
small increases in one or more toxins affect the already highly
toxic nature of cigarette smoke.
Other findings of the Harvard study showed that RIP cigarettes
were found to be acceptable to consumers and did not result in
any higher costs in the price or reduction in excise tax
payments to the state.
It also found that five cigarette brands of the major cigarette
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manufacturers (representing 54% of market share) were in
compliance with the New York Standard. Self-extinguishing rates
of 90% or more were observed in four of the five New York
brands, and a 70% self-extinguishing rate was observed on New
York brands (which is slightly out of compliance). In contrast,
in Massachusetts and California, 2% or less, self-extinguished
in each of the same five brands tested.
Analysis Prepared by : Chris Lindstrom / G.O. / (916) 319-2531
FN: 0013019 0012693