Latest California Healthline Stories
Anti-Smoking Agencies Joining Forces
Three state agencies with a stake in tobacco cessation efforts are holding their first joint conference — and electronic cigarettes are high on their discussion list.
Cigarette Tax Headed Toward Ballot
After losing a bid in the state Legislature to impose a $2-per-pack cigarette tax, proponents will ask California voters to do it.
Rural Leaders Advised on Vaping Danger
The array of possible health risks for rural Californians includes a relatively new entrant: electronic cigarette use, particularly among school-age children.
New Tobacco Tax Bill Touches All Bases
A new bill introduced in the California Legislature yesterday proposes a new tax on cigarettes and electronic cigarettes to raise money for a variety of purposes including solving the managed care tax conundrum, funding regional centers and boosting some Medi-Cal provider rates.
Another Tobacco Bill Off to Governor
Major league baseball players will have to give up the chaw — at least while they’re playing games in California — if the governor signs a ban on smokeless tobacco passed yesterday by the California Legislature.
Tobacco Bills Headed for Senate Floor
A half dozen tobacco bills — including legislation to regulate electronic cigarettes and raise the legal smoking age to 21 — passed the state Senate appropriations committee and are headed for a floor vote.
What’s Behind the Committee Door?
In the scrum of Sacramento politics and influence, some controversial bills are buried into the ground at the committee level. But recently, in a neat political power play, a few given-up-for-dead anti-tobacco bills pulled a little end-around.
Stanford Study Finds Fault With Tobacco Testimony of Six Physicians
A new report from Stanford researchers finds “systematic bias” in the court presentations of half a dozen medical specialists who testify on behalf of tobacco companies.
Special Session Allows an End-Around; Tobacco Bills Avoid G.O. Committee
In an unusual move, legislative leaders moved tobacco regulation proposals to the California Legislature’s special session on health, circumventing the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization that had scuttled two of them.
E-Cigarette Bill’s Next Stop: Committee Known for Killing Tobacco Legislation
UC-San Francisco researchers say the California Assembly’s relatively obscure Committee on Governmental Organization has a history of severely amending or holding anti-tobacco legislation.