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Story and photo by Michael Howard
Photo: Tobacco retailers like this smoke shop will be subject to licensing later this year.
January 15, 2024 (La Mesa, CA) - The La Mesa City Council adopted a new ordinance earlier this month that mandates tobacco retailers shall have a license to sell tobacco products.
The ordinance passed unanimously during the January 9,2024 City Council meeting upon Councilmember Jack Shu’s motion to adopt. Shu showed his support of the ordinance by wearing two lapel pins.
“One is ‘I love clean air’ and the other is a lung that was given to me for cleaner lungs by not smoking,” Shu said.
With the new law, La Mesa joins fellow East County city El Cajon in putting on the books a tobacco retail licensing program that is geared toward reducing youth tobacco use.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 12.6% of all high school students in 2023 used tobacco products. Among high school girls, 14.1% used tobacco products, while high school boys represented slightly less at 11.2%.
La Mesa’s new ordinance has provisions for compliance including the use of underage decoys to enforce local, county, state, and federal laws regarding the sale of tobacco to minors. The ordinance mandates that every sale of tobacco is preceded by an identification check similar to the check retailers perform when selling alcohol.
Failure to comply with the new law can result in permanent revocation of the license after four infractions within a 36-month period. A first infraction results in a $1,000 fine, a second offense results in a 60-day suspension of the license, and the third occurrence can result in a year-long suspension.
Retailers will also be subject to criminal and civil prosecutions in addition to the licensing provisions, according to the ordinance.
The law goes into effect 30-days from the date of adoption and operationally will be enforced 90-days after that.
There were no public comments surrounding the new ordinance during the January 9th city council meetings and several local retailers declined to comment.
In other actions, the City Council re-assigned and affirmed the council members’ appointments to outside boards, commissions and committees, as well as the Council ad hoc and standing subcommittees.
A list of 2024 city proclamations were approved by the Council, including the designation that June will be LGBTQ+ Month with a notation that this item will be brought forward during the second regularly scheduled Council meeting in May.
The Council members approved removing vacation and holiday benefits from the municipal code, citing existing administrative policies and a memorandum of understanding that address the city’s policies on the subject.
SOURCES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, November 2). Youth and tobacco Use. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/youth_data/tobacco_use/index.htm
City of La Mesa. (2024a). Attachment A - Ordinance adding Chapter 6.07 Licensing. https://pub-lamesa.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=12381
City of La Mesa. (2024b, January 9). Consideration of an ordinance of the city council of the city of la mesa adding chapter 6.07 to the la mesa municipal code requiring the licensing of tobacco retailers. City of La Mesa. https://pub-lamesa.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=89b289ed-53c6-4bef-93eb-9d7febed36a1&Agenda=Agenda&lang=English&Item=28&Tab=attachments
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