Brown signs bill to raise legal smoking age in California to 21 [View all]
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
SACRAMENTO — California will raise the smoking age to 21 years old under a package of bills signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday.
Facing a midnight deadline to act on six anti-tobacco bills, Brown signed all but one. The lone veto was for a bill that would have allowed counties and cities to ask voters to approve local tobacco taxes.
“Although California has one of the lowest cigarette tax rates in the nation, I am reluctant to approve this measure in view of all the taxes being proposed for the 2016 ballot,” Brown wrote in his veto message.
Brown did not offer comments on the bills he signed, which includes legislation by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, to regulate e-cigarettes the same as tobacco products, and bills to increase the licensing fee on cigarettes and tobacco products and expand smoke-free laws to workplaces and charter schools previously exempt.
The bills signed by the governor will go into effect in 90 days.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Brown-facing-midnight-deadline-on-bills-to-7393373.php
By Melody Gutierrez Updated 5:28 pm, Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Short article. No more at link.
= new reply since forum marked as read