SB 1124: Public health.

Existing law establishes, within the California Health and Human Services Agency, the State Department of Public Health, which has authority over various programs promoting public health, including the California Tobacco Control Program. Existing law requires the department to, among other things, establish a program on tobacco use and health to reduce tobacco use in California by conducting health education interventions and behavior change programs at the state level, in the community, and other nonschool settings. Existing law also requires the department to conduct statewide surveillance of tobacco-related behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes and evaluate the departments local and state tobacco control programs. Under existing law, the department funds the Kick It California program, which is a tobacco cessation program. Existing law, the California Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003, provides for the licensure by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration of manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers, and retailers of cigarette or tobacco products that are engaged in business in California. The act authorizes the department to suspend or revoke a retailers license or impose a civil penalty for a violation of the acts provisions, as specified, and makes a violation of the act a misdemeanor. Existing law requires a retailer to conspicuously display its license to engage in the sale of cigarettes or tobacco products at each retail location in a manner visible to the public.

This bill would require the department, State Department of Public Health, no later than July 1, 2027, to develop signage and a standardized written notice for lung cancer screening, which would include, among other things, eligibility criteria for lung cancer screening and the toll-free telephone number of the Kick It California tobacco cessation program. The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2028, a retailer, as defined, engaged in the retail sale of cigarettes or tobacco products to prominently display the signage developed by the department, and provide the written notice with the sale of cigarettes or tobacco products. The bill would require the department to require the Kick It California program to, among other things, evaluate lung cancer screening eligibility for individuals contacting the program. department in its retail locations. The bill would make a retailer who violates the above-described requirement subject to suspension or revocation of their license or a $1,000 penalty, or guilty of a misdemeanor. Because the bill would create a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.