Former State Assembly member from the Bay Area Fiona Ma is urging the state to begin to tax e-cigarettes as a way to potentially deter vaping and to pay for health-related needs that emerge from the popularity of e-cigarettes. 

Ma currently serves on the California Board of Equalization, and she says that the state has not raised the tax on regular cigarettes for quite some time as well.

She told KGO810's Michael Finney on Saturday afternoon, "a tax on a pack of cigarettes in California is $0.87, and we are actually the 33rd ranking state in the nation. New York is taxing cigarettes at $4.35 per pack."