Last week, California’s flavored tobacco ban was moving forward, now the bill is dead.

State Sen. Jerry Hill, D-13, announced that he had withdrawn S.B. 38, the bill that would have banned the use of flavored tobacco. His decision is due to a variety of amendments that were tacked onto his attempt at banning flavored cigars.

The California Senate Appropriations Committee passed a version of S.B. 38, but it included amendments that would have exempted tobacco products with menthol, hookah tobacco and any product that has a patent prior to Jan. 1, 2000. Hill believes that these amendments were included to help the tobacco industry and undermined his bill.

“The aim was to prohibit tobacco products with fruit, candy and other flavors that entice young people from being sold in stores,” said Hill in a statement. “The amendments imposed on the bill erode those protections by creating unnecessary, harmful exemptions.”

Technically, Hill designated the bill as “inactive,” which doesn’t kill the bill, but  Hill has said that he won’t bring the bill back unless the amendments are dropped.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.