With the start of a new decade California is placing several new laws into effect, one of which bans tobacco products at beaches.
Senate Bill 8 went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020 banning cigarettes, cigars, or other tobacco products at all of California’s beaches. Cigarettes are one of the most commonly littered items on California’s beaches, especially around Lake Tahoe. According to The Tahoe Daily Tribune, over 5,000 cigarette butts were collected from Lake Tahoe beaches in 2019 alone.
The new law banning tobacco at California beaches is also implementing a $25 fine for smoking on any state beach. The goal of this new law is to reduce human impact on beaches in California and to decrease the amount of litter, of which tobacco products make up a large portion.
Fuck yeah! Just not sure who’s going to enforce it.