California’s Flavored Tobacco Ban Goes to Voters After Referendum Signatures Certified
On Friday, the California Secretary of State’s office certified that a referendum challenging the state’s ban on flavored tobacco sales had garnered more than the minimum number of valid signatures and will head to the ballot in November 2022.
In the meantime, the ban is on hold, and retailers can continue selling flavored tobacco products.
The ban had been set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, but was delayed until the signature verification process had been completed. In order to qualify for the ballot, organizers of the referendum submitted more than 1 million signatures, as they needed to get 623,212 verified signatures from California voters. On Friday, the Secretary of State’s office published a report indicating that organizers had gathered 781,885 valid signatures.