Call To Action - SB648 Wednesday 6-25 @ 1:30 PM in Sacramento, CA.

CA SB648 IS ALIVE AND BACK! Be part of fighting this bill, Wednesday 1:30pm in Sacramento, CA! If you can't make it, contact the committee members!

WHERE:

Capitol Building room 4202
Sacramento, CA

WHEN:

The hearing is at 1:30pm so we aim to gather at the front steps of the capitol building at 1pm.
SB648 is first on the agenda so that’s nice.

DETAILS:

A threat that had been dormant in California has come back from the dead. The threat is CA Bill SB648. Last time around it was quite an interesting hearing with lots of great testimonies but it was also a struggle which resulted in the bill becoming dormant. Well, not any more it isn't.

Corbett has made amendments to the bill that took out most of the items in there. It leaves a bit about vending machines and protecting kids from access, which we are all in agreement on of course. However, it also has wording in the bill that sets the foundation and definition of e-cigarette = cigarette. This is a highly dangerous precedent that we can’t allow to slip by because that definition would equate vapor with smoke and everything else that applies to smoke would soon follow. This could be taxation (perhaps even an equivalency tax), licensing for stores, etc.

In its current form the bill itself does not look like it is important but we believe this to be deceptive. If this bill, in its current form, passes the G.O. committee and goes up the stack it gets gradually harder to kill the bill or get amendments made. All the while, Corbett will be able to add things back into the bill or even add new amendments to it, again making it harder at each step for us to deal with it.

It is therefore imperative that we try and either get an amendment on the wording in this bill or, if that is not possible, aim to completely defeat it.

You can find the bill text here.

Details on the committee hearing this Wednesday here.

For those of you who can’t join us. Please contact the Governmental Organization committee members and let them know why defining an e-cigarette as a traditional combustable cigarette is a bad idea even though you agree (which I presume you do) that kids should not have easy access to e-cigarattes. The contact details for the committee are here:

A Call to Action!

How silly is this? I’m posting a call to action on a blog that isn’t even a day old yet… as if it will have some huge impact right? But that’s not the point. The point is, that if even one person sees this and is motivated to take action to support the vaping community and industry, it will be worth the minor effort to post this here.

AB 1500: An act to add Section 22963.5 to the Business and Professions Code relating to electronic cigarettes.

The latest bill text can be read here.

While the bill has been amended to no longer ban online sales outright, and additional amendments are in the works, it will sill impose a substantial hardship on vendors and consumers.

The next hearing is scheduled for May 14^th, 2014 at 9:00 am at the Capitol building in Sacramento (Room 4202). If you can, show up! The more people that the Assembly Appropriations Committee sees supporting the vaping community and vendors, the more seriously they will take us. So put on your job interview clothes and come out to oppose AB 1500 by attending the hearing on Wednesday, May 14^th 2014.

More on why we should oppose AB 1500 later… for now, the day job demands my attention.