Public health: kratom.
AB 1088
California Bills
20250AB__108896AMD INTRODUCED 2025-02-20 AMENDED_ASSEMBLY 2025-04-10 AMENDED_ASSEMBLY 2025-04-21 AMENDED_SENATE 2026-06-08 2025 AB AMD Introduced by Assembly Member Bains LEAD_AUTHOR ASSEMBLY Bains
An act to add
Article 16 (commencing with
Section 111224.8) to
Chapter of Part of Division of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public health, and making an appropriation therefor. public health, and making an appropriation therefor Public health: kratom. Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, provides for the regulation of various subjects relating to the manufacturing, processing, labeling, advertising, and sale of food, drugs, and cosmetics, under the administration and enforcement of the State Department of Public Health (department) and in accordance with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
The act generally requires manufacturers, packers, and holders of processed foods to register with the department. A violation of the act is a crime. This bill would add kratom products, as defined, to the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law. The bill would require a processor, as defined, to register with the department and to annually register each kratom product it manufactures, packages, distributes, or labels, which would include certification by a laboratory specifying that the product meets certain qualifications. The bill would establish labeling and packaging requirements for those products.
The bill would prohibit the sale of kratom products to those under years of age and would prohibit the sale or distribution of those products at a premise or on an internet website or application that permits a person under years of age to enter and remain or to complete the purchase of any product. The bill would prohibit the sale or distribution of a kratom product that has a child-attractive flavor, as defined. The bill would authorize the department to deny, suspend, or revoke a registration for actions taken in violation of these provisions.
By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. This bill would require a purchaser of a kratom product to pay a tax on the purchase for use in this state of a kratom product from a retailer of 15% of the sales price from the sale of a kratom product. The bill would require a retailer to collect the tax from the purchaser at the time of the retail sale.
The bill would require all revenues, interest, and penalties, less refunds, collected from the tax described above to be deposited into the Kratom Products Public Health and Safety Fund, a continuously appropriated fund created by the bill, and would require all amounts in the fund to be distributed to the University of California Kern County Medical Education Endowment Fund, the Board of State and Community Corrections, the Primary Care Account, and the Specialty Care Account, among others.
By creating a continuously appropriated fund and allocating additional moneys to continuously appropriated funds, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would provide for the administration and collection of this tax pursuant to procedures set forth in the Fee Collection Procedures Law. By expanding the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. TWO_THIRDS YES YES YES NO NO NO NO NO NO NO The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION
Article 16 (commencing with
Section 111224.8) is added to
Chapter of Part of Division of the Health and Safety Code , to read: 16. Kratom Consumer Protection Program 111224.8. As used in this article, the following terms have the following
definitions: (a)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>“7-OH product” means a product containing 7-hydroxymitragynine.</xhtml:p>"?> (b)</xhtml:p>"?> (a) “Attractive to children” means any of the following:
(1) Use of images that are attractive to children, including, but not limited to, images of any of the following, except as part of required health warnings: (
A) Cartoons, toys, or robots. (
B) Any real or fictional humans. (
C) Fictional animals or creatures. (
D) Fruits or vegetables.
(2) Likeness to images, characters, or phrases that are popularly used to advertise to children.
(3) Imitation of candy packaging or labeling, or other packaging or labeling of cereals, sweets, chips, or other food products typically marketed to children.
(4) The terms “candy” or “candies” or variants in spelling such as “kandy” or “kandee.”
(5) Brand names or close imitations of brand names of candies, cereals, sweets, chips, or other food products typically marketed to children.
(6) Any other image or packaging that is easily confused with commercially available foods that do not contain kratom and are typically marketed to children.
(7) Anything else that the department determines in regulation to be attractive to children.
(8) Anything else that is attractive to children in light of all relevant facts and circumstances. (b) “Characterizing flavor” means a taste or odor, distinguishable by an ordinary consumer either prior to or during the consumption of a kratom product, other than the taste or odor of kratom leaf or kratom leaf extract, including, but not limited to, tastes or odors relating to any fruit, chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, menthol, mint, wintergreen, herb, or spice, or a cooling sensation distinguishable by an ordinary consumer during the consumption of a kratom product. (c) “Child-attractive flavor” means a characterizing flavor, that is often used for the purpose of appealing to persons under years of age. (d) “Kratom alkaloid” means all of the following: (1) 7-hydroxymitragynine.
(2) Mitragynine.
(3) Paynantheine.
(4) Speciociliatine.
(5) Speciogynine.
(6) Any chemically converted, synthesized, modified, or novel derivatives of these alkaloids. (c)</xhtml:p>"?> (e) “Kratom leaf” means the leaf of the kratom plant, also known as mitragyna speciosa, in any form. (d)</xhtml:p>"?> (f) “Kratom leaf extract” means the material obtained by extraction of kratom leaves by any means. (e)</xhtml:p>"?> (g) “Kratom product” means a product consisting of kratom leaf, kratom leaf extract, or any kratom alkaloid regardless of whether it was derived from kratom leaf or kratom leaf extract. (f)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>“Total kratom alkaloids” means the sum of mitragynine, speciociliatine, speciogynine, paynantheine, and 7-hydroxymitragynine in a kratom product.</xhtml:p>"?> (h) “Processor” means the party responsible for manufacturing, packaging, labeling, or distributing a kratom product, or the party that advertises, represents, or holds itself out as manufacturing, preparing, packaging, or labeling a kratom product. <caml:Num>111224.83.</caml:Num><caml:LawSectionVersion id="id_8A6C63B6-AEF9-4D9B-8642-53605C4F0C39"><caml:Content><xhtml:p>Packaging of a kratom product or a 7-OH product offered for retail sale shall be child resistant for the life of the product.
Both of the following packages are considered child resistant for the purposes of this section:</xhtml:p><xhtml:p>(a)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>A package that has been certified as child resistant under the requirements of the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970 (15 U.S.C.
Sec. 1471 et seq.) and any regulations promulgated pursuant to that act.</xhtml:p><xhtml:p>(b)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>Plastic packaging that is at least four mils thick and heat sealed without an easy-open tab, dimple, corner, or flap, provided that the package maintains its child resistance throughout the life of the product.</xhtml:p></caml:Content></caml:LawSectionVersion></caml:LawSection>"?> 111224.83. Packaging of a kratom product offered for retail sale shall meet the poison prevention packing standards under Part of Title of the Code of Federal Regulations, as it read on January 1, 2027. 111224.84. (
a) A kratom product produced, manufactured, distributed, sold, or offered for sale shall have a label that clearly and conspicuously provides all of the following information on each retail package:
(1) The following statement: “WARNING: It is illegal to sell kratom to any person under years of age. Kratom is not approved as a medication or to assist in the treatment of opioid addiction. Kratom is not approved as a harm reduction product. Kratom may be habit forming.”
(2) The name and place of business of the processor.
(3) Quantitative declarations of each kratom alkaloid within the package. (
b) An individual, business, or other entity shall not make any health claims with regard to the use of a kratom product. This prohibition applies to health claims made explicitly or implicitly, including, but not limited to, labeling, packaging, advertising, marketing, branding, or naming of any kratom leaf or kratom product. For purposes of this section, health claims include labeling, packaging, advertising, marketing, branding, or naming any kratom product in a manner that resembles or references a drug product, a food, or a food additive. 111224.85. (
a) An individual, business, or other entity shall not sell, offer for sale, provide, or distribute a kratom product to a person under years of age. (b)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>An online retailer or marketplace of a kratom product or 7-OH product shall implement an age-verification system to ensure compliance with subdivision (a).</xhtml:p>"?> (c)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>An individual, business, or other entity shall not sell, offer for sale, provide, or distribute a kratom product or 7-OH product that is attractive to children.</xhtml:p><xhtml:p>(d)<xhtml:span class="EnSpace"/>An individual, business, or other entity shall not sell, offer for sale, provide, or distribute a kratom product or 7-OH product with a level of 7-hydroxymitragynine that is greater than percent of the total kratom alkaloids in the product.</xhtml:p>"?> (
b) An individual, business, or other entity shall not sell, offer for sale, provide, or distribute a kratom product at a premise or on an internet website or application that permits a person under years of age to enter and remain or permits a person under years of age to complete a purchase of any product. (
c) An individual, business, or other entity shall not sell, offer for sale, provide, or distribute a kratom product with a child-attractive flavor. (
d) An individual, business, or other entity shall not sell, offer for sale, provide, or distribute a kratom product that exceeds either of the following limits:
(1) Seventy-five milligrams of mitragynine per package.
(2) Fifty-seven hundredths of one milligram of 7-hydroxymitragynine per package. (
e) This
article does not authorize the sale of any kratom product that is otherwise prohibited by state or federal law. 111224.87. (
a) A processor shall register pursuant to
Section 111224.89 and shall annually register each kratom product it manufactures, packs, distributes, or labels. A product that contains the same ingredients in the same delivery form but in a different container, package, or volume shall be included under the processor’s individual registration. (
b) Annual registration of a kratom product shall include a certificate of analysis from an independent laboratory. The laboratory shall be accredited under the standards of the International Organization for Standardization 17025:2017 accreditation from an accreditation body that is a signatory to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation Mutual Recognition Arrangement. (
c) The certificate of analysis shall confirm the contents of the kratom product and include a certification that the product complies with all of the requirements for a kratom product in this article. (
d) The department may require an independent third-party test of a registered kratom product by a laboratory of the department’s choice, and the processor shall be required to submit payment for the test and an equitable administrative fee within a reasonable time. If the processor does not tender payment to the department within days of receipt of the invoice for the testing and administrative fee, the department shall revoke the registration for that product. 111224.89. (
a) The department, in implementing this article, may establish an annual fee or assessment for any processor registering to produce, manufacture, or offer for sale a kratom product. (
b) The department may develop registration fees based on the number of units produced by registrants and total annual sales in California. The fee
schedule may consist of tiers of registration fees denoted by unit production, total annual sales in California, and corresponding fees to the number of units produced and annual sales in California. The fees shall not exceed the reasonable regulatory costs of administering this article. The calculation of estimated fees is exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Part of Division of Title of the Government Code). (
c) A processor shall operate in conformance with this
article and in good faith compliance with their responsibilities under this article. (
d) A violation of this
article shall be grounds for denying, suspending, forfeiting, revoking, or surrendering a registration. The department may deny, suspend, forfeit, revoke, or order to surrender a registration issued under this article. (
e) Notwithstanding
Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Part of Division of Title of the Government Code, the department shall have the authority to promulgate regulations as may be necessary to implement this article. (
f) The department may execute an interagency agreement with other state or local government agencies in the performance of any or all of the requirements of this section. 111224.9. (
a) For purposes of this section, the following
definitions apply: (1) “Purchase” has the same meaning as defined in
Section of the Revenue and Taxation Code. (2) “Purchaser” means a person who purchases a kratom product. (3) “Retail sale” has the same meaning as defined in
Section of the Revenue and Taxation Code. (4) “Retailer” has the same meaning as defined in
Section of the Revenue and Taxation Code. (5) “Sales price” has the same meaning as defined in
Section of the Revenue and Taxation Code. (6) “Use” has the same meaning as defined in
Section of the Revenue and Taxation Code. (b) (1) (
A) Beginning July 1, 2027, a purchaser shall pay a tax on the purchase for use in this state of a kratom product at a rate of percent of the sales price of the kratom product. (
B) There is a rebuttable presumption that a kratom product is purchased for use in this state if either of the following is true: (
i) The kratom product is purchased from a retailer physically located in this state. (ii) The address to which the retailer ships the purchased kratom product is located in this state.
(2) A retailer shall collect the tax imposed by this
section from the purchaser at the time of the retail sale of a kratom product. (c)
(1) The department shall collect the tax imposed by this
section pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law (Part 30 (commencing with
Section 55001) of Division of the Revenue and Taxation Code).
(2) For purposes of this section, the references in the Fee Collection Procedures Law to “fee” shall include the tax imposed by this section, and references to “feepayer” shall include any retailer liable for the payment, pursuant to subdivision (c), of the tax imposed by this article.
(3) A retailer may retain percent of the tax imposed by this
section as reimbursement for all costs associated with collection of the tax and shall transmit the remainder of the tax to the department pursuant to subdivision (c). (d)
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (3), the tax imposed by this
section shall be due and payable quarterly on or before the last day of the month following each calendar quarter. (2) (
A) The payments shall be accompanied by a return filed by the retailer using electronic media on or before the last day of the month following each quarterly period for the preceding quarterly period. (
B) Returns shall be authenticated in a form or pursuant to methods as may be prescribed by the department.
(3) The department may require the payment of the tax imposed by this
section and the filing of returns for other than quarterly periods. (
e) The tax that is required to be collected by the retailer and any amount unreturned to the purchaser that is not tax but was collected from the purchaser under the representation by the retailer that it was tax constitutes debts owed by the retailer to the state. (
f) A retailer subject to the provisions of this
section shall register for a permit with the department using electronic media and shall set forth the name under which it transacts or intends to transact business and any other information as the department may require. (g)
(1) The department may prescribe, adopt, and enforce regulations relating to the administration and enforcement of this section, including, but not limited to, collections, reporting, refunds, and appeals. (2) (
A) The department may prescribe, adopt, and enforce emergency regulations as necessary to implement this article. (
B) An emergency regulation prescribed, adopted, or enforced pursuant to this paragraph shall be adopted in accordance with
Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Part of Division of Title of the Government Code, and, for purposes of that chapter, including
Section 11349.6 of the Government Code, the adoption of the regulation is an emergency and shall be considered by the Office of Administrative Law as necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, and general welfare. 111224.92. (a)
(1) The Kratom Products Public Health and Safety Fund is hereby established in the State Treasury.
(2) Notwithstanding
Section of the Government Code, all moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal year, for the purposes described in this section. (
b) All revenues, interest, and penalties derived from the taxes imposed by
Section 111224.9 shall be deposited into the Kratom Products Public Health and Safety Fund. (
c) The Controller shall annually allocate and transfer the moneys in the Kratom Products Public Health and Safety Fund as follows:
(1) Twenty-five percent shall be transferred to the University of California Kern County Medical Education Endowment Fund established in
Section of the Education Code.
(2) Twenty-five percent shall be transferred to the Board of State and Community Corrections to support grant programs for local law enforcement that support efforts to combat human trafficking, illicit drug trafficking, or reduce community-based violence.
(3) Twenty percent shall be transferred to the Primary Care Account described in
Section 14199.109 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(4) Twenty percent shall be transferred to the Specialty Care Account described in
Section 14199.110 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(5) Five percent shall be transferred to the State Department of Public Health for costs associated with regulating kratom products.
(6) Five percent shall be transferred to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration for costs associated with administrating this article.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section of
Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of