Sacramento, California – For years, the National Youth Tobacco Survey has worked like an early warning system inside America’s schools. Before parents, teachers or regulators can fully see the next nicotine trend taking hold, the survey often catches the first signs.
Now California Attorney General Rob Bonta says that warning system needs a wider lens.
Bonta on Tuesday joined a bipartisan coalition of 20 attorneys general supporting an FDA proposal to increase the number of students included in the National Youth Tobacco Survey. The survey tracks tobacco and nicotine use among students in grades 6 through 12 and remains a key tool for understanding how young people are exposed to cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other nicotine products.
The NYTS is considered the most complete nationally representative source of tobacco data for high school students and the only such source for middle school students. For more than two decades, its findings have helped state attorneys general shape tobacco enforcement and respond to new products aimed at young users.
“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 was submitted in response to a May 2026 FDA request for public comment on planned revisions to the 2027-2029 survey. The agency is proposing a larger national sample of students to help offset falling response rates in school-based research.
In their letter, the attorneys general said a stronger sample size would help preserve the survey’s role as what the FDA has described as “the gold-standard source of national estimates of youth tobacco use in the United States.” They also said the data helps states decide where to focus enforcement, policy work and public health resources.
The coalition pointed to the survey’s past importance in identifying emerging nicotine products, including its role as an early national indicator of the youth e-cigarette epidemic.
Bonta’s support for expanding the survey follows other recent actions tied to youth nicotine prevention. In June 2026, he urged Formula 1 and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile to prohibit sponsorships involving tobacco and nicotine products. That same month, he welcomed Shopify’s decision to ban vaping products from its e-commerce platform. In April, he also pressed major credit card and payment processing companies to do more to stop unlawful tobacco and nicotine sales.
Joining Bonta in the comment letter were attorneys general from 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.