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California Senate votes to ban smoking at the beach

June 1, 2016

cigsCalifornia state senators voted Tuesday to ban smoking at beaches and parks. The bill would also prohibit disposing of tobacco waste at state parks and state beaches. [LA Times]

Supporters of SB 1333 say the bill is necessary, not only for public health, but also to combat wildfires. Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego), who introduced the bill, said many wildfires have been started by people tossing lighted cigarettes.

“If this measure prevents just one wildfire, it will save millions” of dollars, Block said.

The Democratic lawmaker also said cigarettes contain more than 164 toxic chemicals, and they are non-biodegradable and cause substantial trash issues at beaches and parks. SB 1333 applies to e-cigarettes and medical marijuana, as well traditional cigarettes.

Officials estimate it will cost up to $1.1 million to install 20 signs at each of California’s 280 state parks and beaches.

State senators voted 25-11 in favor of the bill. The legislation now moves on to the Assembly.

Last month, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a package of bills regulating tobacco use and e-cigarettes. The legislation included a bill that raised the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 and a bill that makes e-cigarettes regulated like traditional cigarettes.


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Hey, maybe one day you smokers can get a hunk of metal implanted in your chest just like me. You have NO right to subject me to your carcinogens. Keep on puffin’ but do it at your own freaking house.


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(too d**n hot today!)


Well Said! Well said! Selfish people endanger my health as well as their own. Don’t use the beach for a bathroom and don’t dirty the air I breath.


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I truly feel sorry for those who promote, approve of, condone, or actually smoke tobacco. With ALL the data and statistics available and proof that smoking can and does contribute to serious health issues and premature death, one would think it wouldn’t be supported by anyone with any brains.

If you have lost loved ones from the ravages of cancer due to smoking, it’s a horrific, painful, ugly, and completely unnecessary experience.

We can ban smoking on our beaches, but we obviously can’t legislate stupidity.


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Well you can’t buy a drink until you are 21, because you are not mature enough to handle it and you can’t smoke a cigarette until you are 21, because you are not mature enough to handle it, but you can vote and join the Marine Corps at 18 because you are an adult..


What a bunch of crap! Thanks Jerry Brown for nothing!!


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Thanks God I can still vape anywhere I choose.


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Did you bother to read the article?


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Sorry, dude, not at the beach or in parks… Read the article!


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There’s so much brush on the beaches……. lol.


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Can we ban the California Legislature?


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A hearty second to that motion!


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I wish California would just ban cigarettes in the State, then we don’t have to spend time on imposing cigarette taxes and laws, we can close liquor states throughout the State because without the sale of cig’s and like products they would not exist, the cig stores would close, deliveries would stop, all creating more unemployment, no more cancer funding off the poor, etc. A real win for California and the non-smokers (includes me). I know several people that buy their cig’s at the State border or off the back of trucks. Black markets in the US make a fortune (remember the guy in New York that was selling cig’s on the corner and the police took him out). Oh well, I say do away with cig’s, beer, wine and hard liquor. Oh yea, what until the pop starts taking place and all the regulations and taxes come on down the pipe line. All disgusting habits!


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I cannot remember the last time meaningful laws for the public were passed. This is just resume building smoke and mirror fluff for political prostitutes looking to further THEIR big game hunt for THEIR government welfare paycheck. These fat cats don’t work until an election, to get themselves re-elected. Not for you. Being force fed election commercials and mailers with exactly this kind of resume building blubber. I did this and that, blah blah blah! Another round of government raises soon to follow and they still never have enough money to fix the fuckin streets, such garbage.


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This is about the dumbest law with accompanying excuses I have ever heard of. They only need to allegedly “save” millions so they can waste it elsewhere on stuff like the aforementioned train. Absolute idiots. But they aren’t nearly as stoopid as the fools that keep voting for them.


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““If this measure prevents just one wildfire, it will save millions” of dollars, Block said.” Well, let’s get rid of the bullet train. Spend your time on something more important.


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“Spend your time on something more important.” Like what? Exploring for more oil? Maybe finding more place we can frac’? All the while we stay stuck in the mud with a passenger rail system that is energy inefficient, antiquated and far from being as safe as it could and should be. No! What we should do is put those dollars saved into the bullet train, solar and wind technology and any other form of energy that is based on renewable, sustainable and clean technology.


I applaud this measure! I get so tired of seeing our beaches and parks turned into giant ash trays by people who just don’t get it and don’t give a damn! Make the fines unreasonable, make them so high that tossing a “butt” will cause his or her butt to think twice about it. And maybe, just maybe, it will adversely effect the tobacco industry to a point where it will lose some more of its customer base (not likely but we can only hope).


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Please explain how this law can be enforced? We already have a law against littering (tossing a “butt”) with a hefty fine. How often are people cited for littering on the beach?


This law is against “smoking” on the beach. It means that a law enforcement officer has to see a person smoking on the beach in order to charge them.


Moreover, how many beach fires have we had; I don’t remember any.


Wouldn’t we be better off with a law against smoking in all state parks and local campgrounds than a specific law for the beaches? But then, maybe we have that law, I don’t know.


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After rereading the article, it appears that this law does cover state beaches and state parks. Now it makes more sense. Sorry for my misunderstanding.


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“Moreover, how many beach fires have we had; I don’t remember any.”


There are dozens of California State Beaches that are surrounded by wild land and are extremely susceptible to wild fire. I guess for it to make sense to you we’d have to have a fire FIRST that was directly caused by a “butt”? Wow! What’s that old saying? An ounce of prevention is worth far more than a pound of cure? For once lets be proactive rather than reactive to something that can cause both human and environmental harm…


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Tossing a butt is something that happens in a fraction of a second, so it is much more difficult for an officer to notice and fine someone for this. Smoking a cigarette, on the other hand, is much easier for an officer to notice both due to the smell and sight of the smoke and the fact that the smoker will be doing it for a least a couple minutes per cigarette,


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What I hope this does is curtail smoking altogether. Will it? No! But if it stops one person from tossing a “butt” that’s one less chance of a fire breaking out. Fines don’t usually effect the first time offender but if costly enough it may stop someone from becoming a “two-time-loser” (especially if the person is sighted for both smoking and tossing his or her “butt”) . Also, we, the non-smoking public, would be empowered to say something to these idiots and if push-came-to-shove call a State Park Ranger.


When I was younger I fought wild land fires with CDF (now CalFire) as a seasonal fire fighter, two years I did this. In those two seasons I acquired a great respect for fire, a respect that was cemented in the certain knowledge that the only fire that can be controlled with any certainty is the one never started. And any statute, law or bill that protects those that respond to those fires (in this case less calls and less responses means more protection) is one that should get all of our support!


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