Dietary supplements for weight loss and over-the-counter diet pills.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill text and summary do not provide specific details on enforcement mechanisms or penalties beyond civil fines.

Rules for Selling Weight Loss Pills

This law stops people from selling weight loss or muscle building pills and supplements to anyone under 18 years old without checking their ID.

What This Bill Does

• It makes it illegal to sell, offer to sell, or give away as a promotion any over-the-counter diet pill or dietary supplement for weight loss or muscle building to someone who is not yet 18 years old.
• Sellers must check the identification of anyone under 18 before selling them these products.
• Anyone who breaks this rule can be fined up to $1,000 per violation.
• The Attorney General and local prosecutors can ask a court to stop someone from breaking this law.
• If someone wins a case against another person for breaking this law, they can get back the money spent on legal fees.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who sell weight loss or muscle building pills and supplements
• Anyone under 18 years old

Terms To Know

Civil penalty

A fine for breaking a law that is not considered criminal.

Prevailing plaintiff

The person who wins in court when they sue someone else.

Limits and Unknowns

• This bill does not specify what happens if the seller cannot check the ID of a customer under 18.
• It is unclear how this law will be enforced and by whom.
• The bill does not mention any criminal penalties for breaking these rules.

Official Summary Text

AB 2030, as amended, Lowenthal.
Dietary supplements for weight loss and over-the-counter diet pills.
Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, provides for the regulation of various subjects relating to the processing, labeling, advertising, and sale of food, drugs, and cosmetics, including dietary supplements, under the administration and enforcement of the State Department of Public Health. A violation of those provisions is a crime. Under existing law, it is a misdemeanor for any manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, or other person to sell, transfer, or otherwise furnish a dietary supplement containing ephedrine group alkaloids or other specified substances to a person under 18 years of age, and a seller is required to request a valid identification of prospective purchasers who reasonably appear to be under 18 years of age.
This bill would prohibit a person from selling, offering to sell, or giving away as either a retail or
wholesale promotion, and a delivery seller from selling, delivering, or causing to be delivered, an over-the-counter diet pill or dietary supplement for weight loss or muscle building, as defined, to any person under 18 years of age, except as specified, by requiring a specified identification check. The bill would make a person who violates these provisions liable for a civil penalty of no more than $1,000 for each violation, as specified, and would authorize the Attorney
General or any district attorney,
General, a
county counsel, or
a
city attorney to apply to a court for, and
would authorize
that court
shall
to
have jurisdiction upon hearing and for cause shown to grant, a temporary or permanent injunction enjoining or restraining any person or entity from violating any of the prohibitions.
The bill would make a prevailing plaintiff in an action under these provisions entitled to an award of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.
Under the bill, the above-described criminal penalty would not apply to a violation of these provisions.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF