Title
Introduction of Ordinance Amending the Alameda Municipal Code by Adding Article XVII (Tobacco Retailers) to Chapter VI (Businesses, Occupations and Industries) to Require Licensing of Tobacco Retailers in the City and to Prohibit the Sale of Flavored Tobacco Products. (City Attorney 2310)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Janet C. Kern, City Attorney
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This Ordinance would require any State licensed tobacco retailer to obtain a City Tobacco Retailer License and, thereafter, to renew such license annually. Retailers would pay a license fee to cover the cost to implement and administer the Ordinance, but a State grant will cover the costs for the first fiscal year. Although tobacco retailers who currently hold a State license will be eligible to receive and annually thereafter renew a City Tobacco Retailer License, if such retailer's business is located within 300 feet of a public or private K-12 school (the "buffer zone"), a purchaser of such business could not thereafter sell tobacco products unless the business were sold within three years of the adoption of the Ordinance. Moreover, any pharmacy that currently sells tobacco products will be prohibited from continuing to do so after July 1, 2019. Any person not currently holding a State license to sell tobacco products would be eligible to obtain a City license only if the number of such City tobacco retailers is less than 32 (currently there are approximately 50) and if the location is outside the 300 foot buffer zone.
As of July 1, 2019, this Ordinance would prohibit within the City the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes.
BACKGROUND1
Smoking continues to be the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.
Within the C...
Click here for full text