Proposed bills in Nevada and California that looked to phase out tobacco sales by banning sales to people born after a certain date, both failed in mid-April, with one unable to receive a vote and the other amended to have a different focus.
Nevada Assembly Bill 294 would have banned flavored tobacco products and prohibited anyone born after Dec. 31, 2002, from purchasing cigarettes, beginning on Jan. 1, 2024. Additionally, the bill proposed cigarette sales be illegal in the state beginning Jan. 1, 2030, according to 8 News Now.
The Nevada bill, however, failed to receive a vote in the Nevada Assembly’s Committee on Health and Human Services, and therefore will not advance, reported Halfwheel.
In California, Assembly Bill 935 was amended from proposing a phased total tobacco ban to focusing on the state’s flavored tobacco ban. The original proposal stated that tobacco retailers would be unable to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2007. Now, the amended bill would make the provisions of the flavored tobacco ban punishable by civil penalties, as opposed to an infraction. The State Department of Public Health would be responsible for enforcement.
There was a lack of support for the original California bill proposal, with none of the seven primary sponsors of the flavored tobacco ban taking a position on the bill, according to CalMatters.
The proposed bills, however, set the stage for other legislatures to potentially attempt similar bans.