California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 395 into law on Oct. 4 to impose an additional excise tax on the retail cost of vaping products on top of the existing wholesale tax. Senate Bill 395, introduced by Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) in February, aims to curb teen vaping by adding an excise tax to electronic cigarettes. The bill requires all revenues, interest, and penalties collected from the tax to be deposited into the California Electronic Cigarette Excise Tax Fund. Funds will then be distributed to youth tobacco prevention programs and health education plans. The new law will take effect on July 1, 2022, and will require electronic cigarette purchasers to pay a 12.5 percent tax of the sales price of electronic cigarettes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 3.6 million youth reportedly used e-cigarettes in 2020, and the majority of them reported using flavored e-cigarettes. …