This Tuesday, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to increase penalties for companies that sell cigarettes and other tobacco products to minors.
Proposed by County Health, the increased penalties are intended to discourage retailers from risking selling tobacco products to minors and help prevent young people from becoming hooked on nicotine.
In California, 67 percent of current and former smokers report that they started smoking by age 18.
“When we discuss these issues, what we’re really talking about is saving lives,” said Warren Slocum, who represents District 4 on the Board of Supervisors.
“We need to put strength in enforcement for two big reasons: One is that we need to make the penalty large enough to negate the profits from sales to minors. And two, we need to do everything we can to keep cigarettes and other tobacco products out of the hands of children. Most adult smokers started when they were not old enough to legally consume tobacco products,” he added.
The increased penalties will “strengthen the ordinance’s provisions to reduce youth access to tobacco products” in unincorporated San Mateo County.
The biggest blow of these sanctions is a provision that requires a permit to be suspended if a company is found to have sold tobacco products to people under 21.
In the past, retailers could have received a warning or a letter of reprimand if they were caught selling tobacco to minors.
The updated ordinance also includes increasing fines to $500 for a first offense and up to $1,000 for all subsequent offenses within a 60-month period.
It also prohibits the issuance of new Tobacco Retailer Permits at any location within 1,000 feet of a “youth-populated area” – public or private school, playgrounds, for example – or within 500 feet of an existing tobacco retailer.
It also mandates a fine for any violation of the ordinance; increases the number of on-site inspections required by County Environmental Health Services to two per year; and the two inspections per year for all tobacco retailers increases the annual permit fee from $174 to $672.
County staff will encourage cities within San Mateo County to adopt the updated tobacco retailer permit ordinance.
“Our community’s youth are healthier when tobacco retailers are held accountable for illegally selling tobacco products to underage customers,” said Clara Boyden, deputy director of Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, who oversees the tobacco program for County Health.
According to County Health, from April 2021 through June 2022, a total of 11 of 74 tobacco retailers in San Mateo County sold to underage youth as decoys during Sheriff's Office enforcement operations, representing about 15 percent.
Limiting young people's access to tobacco products in retail stores is a key component of a comprehensive tobacco prevention strategy, the city council stressed in a statement.
In 1998, the Board of Supervisors established one of the state’s first tobacco retailer permit programs. The County has since updated the ordinance to keep up with changing tobacco delivery models with the proliferation of e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco, for example.
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