California is a puff away from becoming the second state to ban smoking at state beaches and parks.
Senate Bill 4 by state Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, easily wafted through the state Senate on Thursday.
The so-called "No Smoking at State Parks and Beaches Act" passed largely along party lines with 20 Democrats and one Republican in favor, 14 Republicans opposed and a handful of GOP abstentions, said Oropeza spokesman Ray Sotero.
Maine beat California to the punch, signing a similiar smoking ban into law on Thursday.
The California law would extinguish legal smoking at 350 state beaches and parks, including Bolsa Chica State Beach.
Long Beach and Seal Beach, which are municipal and not under state purview, already ban lighting up on the sand.
Huntington Beach, which has a state and a municipal beach, bans smoking on the city side.
Oropeza's bill would apply a $100 fine for smoking at a state beach or in a state park.
Pointing out that leaving butts on the beach is already against the law, pro-smoking groups called Oropeza's bill redundant.
"The state land was one of the last places we could go to and enjoy ourselves without the discrimination of the cities," Robert Best, state coordinator of Citizens Freedom Alliance Inc., told the San Jose Mercury News. "What's the next step going to be: you can't live in our state?"
Oropeza, a former Long Beach councilwoman and school board member, introduced a similar bill in 2006 but could not get it through. This year's effort now moves <NO1>on<NO>to the state Assembly, which, like the Senate, is controlled by Democrats.
