Federal Policies & Issues


The Center monitors tobacco-related policies and regulations at the federal level, especially issues that have a direct impact on local and statewide tobacco control efforts in California.  As significant developments occur at the federal level, the Center produces updates and resources to assist local advocates in understanding the impact of these developments on their local work.  These updates on federal issues cover a variety of topics including tobacco-related bills in Congress, FDA regulations related to the new authority over tobacco products and FDA activity related to e-cigarettes.

Below are the federal updates from the Center:

April 2013: Proposed Federal Tobacco Tax Increase

March 2013: FDA Will Not Appeal Graphic Warning Label Decision

March 2013: Cigar Related Legislation

February 2013: CDC Releases Tobacco Control State Highlights

September 2012: Federal Legislative Update

August 2012: CDC Releases Study on Flavored Cigars

August 2012: Court Rules on Graphic Warning Labels

July 2012: Roll Your Own Tobacco Machines

November 2011: Judge Blocks Graphic Warning Labels

August 2011: FTC Tobacco Marketing Reports Released

June 2011: FDA Law Implementation Update

June 2011: Federal Legislative Update

May 2011: Electronic Cigarette Update

March 2011: Menthol Report Submitted to FDA

January 2011: Implementation of FDA Tobacco Law

December 2010: New Surgeon General's Report on Tobacco

November 2010: FDA Cigarette Warnings Update

November 2010: Timeline of FDA Tobacco Law and Menthol Provisions

November 2010: Resolutions on FDA Regulations of Flavored Tobacco Products and Menthol in Cigarettes

September 2010: Electronic Cigarette Update

June 2010: FDA Tobacco Law Implementation Update

April 2010: Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act

March 2010: FDA Rule Update

March 2010: FDA Law Implementation Update

January 2010: Federal Court Ruling on FDA Law Update

On October 20, 2009 the Center and the Technical Assistance Legal Center (TALC) hosted a webinar on the new legislation to give the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products.  This training was designed to help Local Lead Agencies (LLAs) and potential Competitive Grantees (CGs) as they review the Communities of Excellence (CX) indicators and decide which to include in their workplans.  Below is a new resource developed for the webinar and a recording of the webinar.

After the FDA Tobacco Law: Which Policies are Legal to Pursue?

Audio Recording of the FDA Webinar  Note: Two of the policies that were designated as “green light” policies in the webinar—keeping tobacco in opaque containers in stores and banning the sale of flavored tobacco—have been recategorized as “yellow light” policies due to changes in the legal landscape since the fall when this webinar was presented.

Federal updates from past years:

September 2009: Flavored Cigarette Ban Update

July 2009: Impact of FDA Legislation on States

July 2009: FDA Legislation Effective Dates

July 2009: Federal E-Cigarette Update

June 2009: FDA Bill Signed into Law

April 2009: House Passes FDA Legislation

March 2009: FDA Legislation Introduced

February 2009: Federal Tobacco Tax Increase Signed into Law

January 2009: Senate Passes Federal Tobacco Tax Increase

January 2009: Federal Tobacco Tax Update

August 2007: Federal Update



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