BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
574 (Hill)
Hearing Date: 6/29/2009 Amended: 4/23/2009
Consultant: Katie Johnson Policy Vote: Health 6-3
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 574 would prohibit smoking in all areas and on
the grounds of general acute care hospitals effective January 1,
2010.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Tobacco tax unknown, potentially thousands of dollars
depending on General/
revenue loss the number of people that quit smoking as a result
Special* of this policy.
*See staff comments
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to
the Suspense File.
Existing law provides for the licensing and regulation of health
facilities by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
Existing law prohibits smoking in patient care areas, waiting
rooms, and visiting rooms of specified health facilities,
including general acute care hospitals. A violation of this law
is an infraction.
This bill would prohibit smoking in all areas of a general acute
care hospital and throughout the entire hospital campus,
including buildings, parking areas, plazas, vehicles,
underground passages, and sidewalks. This bill would except the
following from its provisions: 1) public thoroughfares and
sidewalks adjacent to the hospital, but not owned by the
hospital; 2) property owned or leased by a hospital that is not
part of the principal medical campus and that is used for
non-health-care-related purposes. This bill would also state
that a patient may smoke if the treating physician determines,
in writing, that the patient's treatment would be substantially
impaired by the denial of the use of tobacco.
This bill would require a hospital to post signs that would
state that smoking is prohibited on the entire hospital campus
and would require that existing staff be advised of the
non-smoking policy at least 60 days prior to implementation and
that new staff be advised of the non-smoking policy during
orientation.
This bill would permit a hospital to offer patients, visitors,
and staff with smoking cessation information. This bill would
allow a city or county to adopt and enforce additional smoking
and tobacco control policies that are no less stringent than the
applicable standards provided by this bill. This bill would
provide that a violation of these provisions would not
constitute a misdemeanor nor an infraction.
Page 2
AB 574 (Hill)
This bill would state that the intent of this bill is to
encourage and assist smokers to cease the use of tobacco and to
reduce the associated risks of tobacco smoke to hospital
patients, staff, and visitors.
There are approximately 70 of the 440 acute care hospitals in
California that have voluntarily prohibited smoking on their
campuses. California imposes a tax of $0.87 per pack of
cigarettes and a proportional tax on other tobacco products. In
2006-2007, tobacco tax revenues totaled approximately $1.1
billion.
Depending on the number of people per facility that quit smoking
as a result of this bill, the tobacco tax losses to the General
Fund and to special funds could be significant. For example, if
an average of 2 people per facility quit smoking annually as a
result of this bill, assuming that lost tax revenue per person
is approximately $120 each year, the lost revenue would total
$88,800. If an average of 10 people per facility quit, the lost
revenue would total $444,000. Tobacco taxes are deposited as
follows:
$0.50 in the California Children and Families Trust Fund
$0.25 in the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund
$0.10 in the General Fund
$0.02 in the Breast Cancer Fund
These monies fund a variety of tobacco control and health care
programs.
Although there would be a loss in tax revenue to the extent that
people quit smoking or smoke less, there would also be potential
future health care savings in the public and private sector due
to a reduced incidence of tobacco-related disease in smokers and
people exposed to second-hand smoke.
Additionally, there are several other bills pending in the
Legislature that would impact tobacco revenues, most notably 1)
SB 600 (Padilla), which would increase the tobacco tax $1.50 per
pack of 20 cigarettes to pay for various programs and is
expected to generate approximately $1.2 billion in revenues in
FY 2010-2011, and 2) the 2009-2010 Budget Act, which would also
increase the tobacco tax $1.50 to provide revenue for the
General Fund of about $1 billion in 2009-2010 and $1.2 billion
in 2010-2011.