STATE TOBACCO FACT SHEETS 2010

CALIFORNIA
Legacy in California
• Legacy has awarded $12,389,541.04 in grants to projects in California.

• Benjamin K. Chu, President of the Southern California Region Kaiser Foundation Health
Plan and Hospitals, is the current Chair of Legacy’s Board of Directors.

• Jonathon E. Fielding, Director Health Officer of the L.A. Department of Health is a current
member of Legacy’s Board of Directors.

Tobacco Usage

• In FY2010 California spent $79 million on tobacco prevention, which is 17.9% of the CDC
Annual Spending Target.1

• The CDC estimates that 50.9% of adult smokers in California tried to quit smoking in 2008.2

• California is estimated to receive $1.75 billion in tobacco settlement payments and taxes
in FY2010.3

• California has securitized all or parts of its Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) dollars.4

ADULT CIGARETTE USE IN 2009 YOUTH CIGARETTE USE

17.9%

12.8%

California7 National 8
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1724 Massachusetts Avenue, NW • Washington, DC 20036 • t 202-454-5555 • f 202-454-5599 • www.LegacyForHealth.org

State Tobacco Laws9

Excise Tax: There is a tax of $.87 per pack on cigarettes. Other tobacco products are taxed
41.11% of wholesale price; this rate changes annually on July 1.10

Clean Indoor Air Ordinances

• Smoking is prohibited in all enclosed spaces of places of employment, except for
designated break-rooms that are separately ventilated directly to the outside.

Youth Access Laws

• The minimum age requirement for the purchase of tobacco products is 18, and penalties
exist for both minors and merchants who violate this law.

• Establishments are required to post signs stating that sales to minors are prohibited.

• Only sales clerks are allowed access to tobacco products prior to sale.

• The sale of bidis is prohibited except in establishments where minors are prohibited to
enter by law.

SOURCES
1
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement Eleven Years
Later. A Report on the States’ Allocation of the Tobacco Settlement Dollars, FY 2010, 2009
2
CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2008
3
Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids, A Decade of Broken Promises: The 1998 State Settlement Ten Years Later, State
Tobacco-Prevention Spending vs. State Tobacco Revenues, 2008
4
American Lung Association, SLATI State Reports, 2009
5
CDC, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 2007
6
California Department of Public Health. California Student Tobacco Survey, 2007
7
CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2009
8
CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2009
9
American Lung Association, SLATI State Reports, 2009
10
American Lung Association, SLATI State Reports, 2010

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