On Nov. 9, R.J. Reynolds and other tobacco companies filed a lawsuit against Bill 793, according to NATO. This bill would ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products in the state of California.
The tobacco companies argued that Bill 793 falls under the Federal Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Act’s Preemption Clause. This law was passed in 2009 and granted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products. The companies also argued that since Bill 793 tries to control manufacturers that are not in California, then the bill violates the dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Even though the FDA has proposed federal tobacco product standards to ban the use of menthol in cigarettes, roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco and heated tobacco, and to prohibit all flavors in cigars, these tobacco product standard regulations still have to move through a nine-step federal regulatory adoption process called “rulemaking” and have not yet been implemented.
The companies that filed the lawsuit include R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co., American Snuff Co. LLC, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., Modoral Brands, Neighborhood Market Association and Morija LLC dba Vapin’ the 619. The defendants in the lawsuit are Robert Bonta, the attorney general for the state of California and Summer Stephan, the district attorney for the county of San Diego.
NATO noted that before the lawsuit was filed on Nov. 9, election results indicated that with 95.1% of precincts having partially reported Election Day results, over 62% of voters had voted in favor of Bill 793.
However, before the flavored tobacco ban can take effect, the California Secretary of State must clarify the results of the referendum vote on or before Dec. 16