California Funds Study of Tobacco Sales Bans and Messaging Contract While Several Towns Adopt Bans

com reported that the California Department of Public Health funded a study published in 2025 in the journal Tobacco Control on the effects of tobacco sales bans in Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach. The study examined sales of tobacco and non-tobacco products in the two cities and surrounding areas after the bans took effect on January 1, 2021.

Co-author Nita H. Mukand received a National Institutes of Health grant, and the dataset covered only chain stores that represented 16 percent of California cigarette sales across seven retailers in two zip codes. The same reporting described a five-year CDPH contract awarded to Sacramento lobbyist Tim Gibbs starting in July 2025 for the Endgame Messaging Hub project.

Gibbs received $45,900 from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network in 2025, with the largest quarterly payment of $18,600 occurring in the third quarter.

In a February 2026 webinar, Gibbs described distributing door knockers and flyers in a Sacramento neighborhood to create the appearance of public demand for a flavored tobacco ban. com obtained emails showing CDPH staff shared confidential 2023 polling data with project coordinator Debra Kelley on November 18, 2025, under instructions not to distribute it further.

On November 24, 2025, Gibbs emailed a working group that included three CDPH employees to develop a statewide voter poll on endgame policy messaging, with his November invoice listing $10,000 for a polling firm.

The reporting also covered tobacco sales bans passed in Tiburon and Ross, California, in 2025. Ross has just over 2,000 residents and had no tobacco retailers at the time of the vote. Mayor pro tem Elizabeth Robbins stated after the vote that the town was not actually banning anything.