(SACRAMENTO, CA) – The Assembly today passed Assembly Bill (AB) 1594, Tobacco/ Smoke Free Public Postsecondary Campuses (McCarty, D-Sacramento) with bipartisan support on a vote of 48 to 24. This bill would prohibit any person from smoking or using any tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, on any of the California Community College (CCC), and California State University (CSU) campuses by 2018.
“We need to promote a safe and healthy environment for the campus staff, students and faculty,” said Assemblymember McCarty. “This bill helps address the harmful health effects that come with smoking and second hand smoke on our college campuses.”
Campuses Organized and United for Good Health (COUGH), the statewide student-led coalition dedicated to ensuring healthy campuses for all, supported this effort.
“This issue is also personal for many students, like me, in our coalition. We have had significant medical complications because of secondhand smoke exposure on campus. This legislation will make a difference in our lives and in protecting lives of future students in California,” said Jake Rosenberg MD/PhD Candidate, Stanford School of Medicine.
Because students, faculty, and staff may attend or work on multiple campuses within the community college, a system wide tobacco policy would avoid a patch-work of regulations.
“American River College, a part of the Los Rios Community College District, recently went to a smoke-tobacco-vape free campus – a decision supported by a vast majority of our students, faculty and staff, as well as the leadership of our Board of Trustees,” said Ray Di Guilio, the college’s Vice President of Administration and Chair of the Smoke-Tobacco-Vape Free Implementation Task Force. “Our Los Rios sister colleges are now moving toward the same policy and AB 1594 would greatly assist them and other colleges and universities in adopting such an important enhanced learning environment for students and a healthier environment for everyone on campus.”
Moving forward, AB 1594 will be heard in the California State Senate.
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