Attorney General Bonta Joins Bipartisan Coalition in Supporting Increased Sampling in National Youth Tobacco Survey

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta yesterday joined a bipartisan coalition of 20 attorneys general in submitting a comment letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) supporting its proposal to increase the number of students surveyed through the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS). The NYTS is the most comprehensive source of nationally representative tobacco data among students in grades 9-12 and is the only source of data for students in grades 6-8. For more than two decades, the NYTS’s findings have helped attorneys general curb youth tobacco use and respond to emerging nicotine products. The NYTS was previously administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is now overseen by the FDA.

“Protecting young people from tobacco and nicotine addiction requires staying ahead of rapidly evolving products and tactics,” said Attorney General Bonta. “I’m supporting the FDA’s proposed expansion of the National Youth Tobacco Survey sample size. This survey is an essential tool for tracking emerging trends and holding bad actors accountable when they target kids with addictive tobacco and nicotine products.”

The comment letter is submitted in response to a May 2026 FDA invitation for public comment on revising the 2027-2029 NYTS by expanding the sample size of grade 6-12 students surveyed nationwide. The FDA notes that sampling a greater number of students will accommodate for the declining response rates of school-based studies. In August 2025, Attorney General Bonta submitted a comment letter supporting the continuation of the 2026-2028 NYTS.

In the letter, the coalition writes that:

• Providing for an adequate sample size ensures that the results of the NYTS remain representative and would allow state and federal tobacco control partners to continue relying upon the NYTS as FDA characterized it — “the gold-standard source of national estimates of youth tobacco use in the United States.”
• The survey’s extensive information on how and why young people use tobacco and nicotine products enables attorneys general to focus their resources on the most effective policies and enforcement measures to address the constantly evolving retail market. Additionally, NYTS data has been crucial in alerting the States to emerging tobacco products and was the first national indicator of the youth e-cigarette epidemic.
• It is essential that attorneys general have continued access to reliable data collected in the rigorous fashion employed by NYTS to inform our efforts as we work to reduce youth tobacco use.

Attorney General Bonta is committed to protecting the public from the negative effects of exposure to tobacco and nicotine products. In June 2026, he sent a letter calling on the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile and Formula 1 to prohibit sponsorships involving all tobacco and nicotine products. That same month, he welcomed Shopify’s decision to ban the sale of all vaping products, including e-cigarettes, through its e-commerce platform. In April 2026, he sent letters to nine major credit card and payment processing companies urging them to take stronger action to prevent the unlawful sale of tobacco and nicotine products, particularly e-cigarettes, online and at brick-and-mortar stores. 

In sending this comment letter, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.