Sometimes, it's good to be unfriendly. California's hostility toward smoking — it was the first to ban smoking in public indoor spaces, and many municipalities have made it illegal in certain outdoor venues as well — has helped give the state the second-lowest smoking rate in the nation (behind Utah).
The question is how to push that number still lower than the current rate of less than 12% without trampling on the individual's right to make the unwise, unhealthful decision to smoke. Two bills before an Assembly committee on Wednesday share the worthwhile aim of fighting the nicotine habit, but both have flaws.