1. Tobacco Retail Licensing One City at a Time Riverside County, California Martin Baxter (760)863-7548 mbaxter@co.riverside.ca.us mbaxter@adelphia.net

2. The Retailers Have a Role  2001: The percentage of California retailers illegally selling tobacco to kids hit the highest level in four years at 17.1 percent, up 33.6 percent from the year before (2000).

3. What IS Licensed?  Alcohol  security alarms  bottled water  hair salon Selling Tobacco IS NOT Licensed! Kills 1 of 3 users

4. California is Not Always the Leader In Tobacco Prevention  Almost half of the nation’s states (24) require a license to sell tobacco with strict penalties for selling tobacco to minors, but California does not.  The local communities must lead the way…over 30 cities in CA have licensing laws for selling tobacco.

5. Tobacco Retail Licensing What are the benefits?  Sends a message to all tobacco retailers that a community is serious about protecting kids from tobacco products.  Helps determine who is selling tobacco.  Increases compliance with all tobacco-related laws by creating a greater deterrent than fines alone for violating the law.  Creates a level playing field for the business community.  Licensing and related enforcement are very cost-effective measures for saving lives (up to 1,000 times as cost-effective as mammography), according to research.

6. How Are Tobacco Companies Involved? In the past, the tobacco industry has supported preemption language in proposed state licensing laws to establish weak requirements that cannot be enhanced at the local level.

7. Riverside County Approach to Tobacco Retail Licensing  Creating Community Support  Educating Policy Makers  Technical Assistance

8. Creating Community Support  Combining forces  Presentations/petition signing  Letters of Support  Coalition Letters to Editor

9. Educating Policy Makers  Kits developed and used by Coalition  Educate key city council member  Correction: don’t educate city attorney 1 st

10. Technical Assistance  City, Law Enforcement, and DA’s Office  Training enforcement, selling enforcement  Paperwork flow  Owners educated and staff training  STORE materials

11. Summary  What is licensing (similar to alcohol sales)  TRL is happening at the city level instead of county or state level (30 cities in CA 10/02)  The tobacco industry is involved  Riverside County approach 1. Creating Community Support 2. Educating Policy Makers 3. Technical Assistance (training, enforcement)