Public health.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific details on penalties beyond license suspension, revocation, and a $500 civil penalty.

Public Health Signage Law

The law requires the State Department of Public Health to create signs about lung cancer screening and tobacco cessation, which retailers must display in their stores starting January 1, 2028.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the California Department of Public Health to develop signs by July 1, 2027, that inform people about lung cancer screening eligibility criteria and provide the toll-free telephone number for the Kick It California tobacco cessation program.
• Tells retailers who sell cigarettes or tobacco products to put up these signs in their stores starting January 1, 2028.
• Makes it against the rules if retailers do not display the required signs properly.
• Allows the state to suspend or revoke a retailer’s license or impose a civil penalty of $500 for violating this rule.

Who It Names or Affects

• The California Department of Public Health
• Retailers selling cigarettes or tobacco products in California

Terms To Know

Kick It California

A program that helps people stop smoking.

Lung cancer screening

Tests to find lung cancer early, before it causes symptoms.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much the signs will cost or who pays for them.
• It is unclear if there are specific penalties other than license suspension, revocation, and a $500 civil penalty mentioned in the summary.
• There is no effective date given, so it's unknown when exactly this law would start.

Official Summary Text

SB 1124, as amended, Archuleta.
Public health.
Existing law establishes, within the California Health and Human Services Agency, the State Department of Public Health, which has authority over various programs promoting public health, including the California Tobacco Control Program. Existing law requires the department to, among other things, establish a program on tobacco use and health to reduce tobacco use in California by conducting health education interventions and behavior change programs at the state level, in the community, and other nonschool settings. Existing law also requires the department to conduct statewide surveillance of tobacco-related behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes and evaluate the department’s local and state tobacco control programs. Under existing law, the department funds the Kick It California program, which is a tobacco cessation program. Existing law, the California Cigarette and Tobacco Products
Licensing Act of 2003, provides for the licensure by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration of manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers, and retailers of cigarette or tobacco products that are engaged in business in California. The act authorizes the department to suspend or revoke a retailer’s license or impose a civil penalty for a violation of the act’s provisions, as specified, and makes a violation of the act a misdemeanor. Existing law requires a retailer to conspicuously display its license to engage in the sale of cigarettes or tobacco products at each retail location in a manner visible to the public.
This bill would require the State Department of Public Health, no later than July 1, 2027, to develop signage for lung cancer screening, which would include, among other things, eligibility criteria for lung cancer screening and the toll-free telephone number of the Kick It California tobacco cessation program. The bill would
require, beginning January 1, 2028, a retailer, as defined, engaged in the retail sale of cigarettes or tobacco products to prominently display the signage developed by the department in its retail locations. The bill would make a retailer who violates the above-described requirement subject to suspension or revocation of their license or a
$1,000
$500
penalty, or guilty of a misdemeanor. Because the bill would create a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no
reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF