“California Lawmakers Block Bill To Regulate E-Cigarettes ” CBS Los Angeles

Mark Leno, would extend restrictions that are already applied to tobacco cigarettes to their electronic counterparts. He voted for the amendments after noting that the USA Food and Drug Administration is studying federal regulation of e-cigarettes.

Sen. Henry Perea, D-Fresno, said it was too soon to take up rules about whether e-cigarettes should be considered tobacco products.

Electronic cigarettes, which often look like traditional smokes, use a battery-powered vaporizer that simulates the feeling of smoking.

Another problematic issue that e-cigarettes face are their increasing popularity among middle and high school students, which tripled from 2013 to 2014 despite California’s ban on sales to minors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A bill that would raise the minimum wage in California to $13 an hour passed the Assembly, Labor and Employment Committee Wednesday 5-1. Leno said in a statement.

Pamela Gorman, the director of government relations for Njoy, an e-cigarette maker, urged the California Assembly in a letter to reconsider Leno’s bill, which would also establish licensing requirements for sellers of e-cigarettes and increase enforcement of the ban of selling such “vaporizers” to minors. Vendors of the devices that convert liquid nicotine into inhalable vapor would also need to apply for a state license.

The companies also have made large contributions to lawmakers, including more than half the members of the panel that met Wednesday, campaign finance records show.

“The big tobacco companies are the big political power as far as fighting this bill”, said Tim Gibbs, spokesman for the lobbying branch of the American Cancer Society. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, that sought to regulate e-cigarettes but stopped short of labeling them as a tobacco product failed in the Senate last month.

Altria spokesman David Sutton did not answer questions about company donations to specific lawmakers on the committee.

SACRAMENTO – State Sen.