Bus. & Prof. Code, § 22980.2 · Chapter 5. Inspections, Prohibitions, and Penalties
Bus. & Prof. Code, § 22980.2
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A person or entity that engages in the business of selling cigarettes or tobacco products in this state either without a valid license or after a license has been suspended or revoked, and each officer of any corporation that so engages in this business, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable as provided in Section 22981.
(b) Each day after notification by the board or by a law enforcement agency that a manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor, importer, retailer, or any other person required to be licensed under this division offers cigarette and tobacco products for sale or exchange without a valid license for the location from which they are offered for sale shall constitute a separate violation.
(c) Continued sales or gifting of cigarettes and tobacco products either without a valid license or after a notification of suspension or revocation shall constitute a violation punishable as provided in Section 22981, and shall result in the seizure of all cigarettes and tobacco products in the possession of the person by the board or a law enforcement agency. Any cigarettes and tobacco products seized by the board or by a law enforcement agency shall be deemed forfeited.
(d) For the purposes of this section, notwithstanding subdivision (v) of Section 22971, “tobacco products” includes a product or device as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 22950.5.
(e) This section shall be operative on January 1, 2017.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 269, Sec. 9. (AB 573) Effective January 1, 2026.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC§ionNum=22980.2.
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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