Board of Health

City of Columbia, Missouri Meeting Minutes Board of Health Monday, September 12, 2016 The Roof - Broadway Drafting Subcommittee - Tobacco Retailer Licensing Hotel, 1111 East 6:00 PM Broadway I. CALL TO ORDER The Columbia/Boone County Board of Health Subcommittee met at 6:00 p.m. at The Roof, 1111 E. Broadway, Columbia, MO, to discuss Preliminary Drafting of the Report to City Council regarding tobacco retail licensing. Present: 4- Cynthia Boley, Lynelle Phillips, David Sohl and Michael Szewczyk II. NEW BUSINESS Preliminary Drafting of Report to City Council Subcommittee members began discussion noting that there is agreement to proceed with recommending approval to City Council for the implementation of Tobacco Retail Licensing (TRL). TRL enables enforcement of Tobacco 21 by our local jurisdiction. When enforcement is increased, evidence has shown that tobacco use declines. Additional purposes of TRL would be to identify and quantify number of tobacco retailers, as well as to enforce Tobacco 21 and other laws, including the federally prohibited sale of tobacco to persons under age 18. Funding for enforcement was discussed. The committee will recommend that tobacco licenses need to be implemented regardless of whether license fees are put to a public vote. Should the public vote for imposing fees be rejected, other money for enforcement could be located at a later time. Justification for TRL can be found in peer reviewed articles, two Tribune articles, a Maneater article, and local FDA inspections that found retailers in non-compliance. These make the argument for TRL as a way to improve public health. TRL can also assist in mapping locations, such as proximity to schools or a high-concentration of tobacco retailers in specific areas. Regarding enforcement, one option would be to have those doing alcohol inspections also perform tobacco sales inspections. Regardless, there should be dedicated funding to the department responsible for enforcement, whether that department is the City Police, Department of Health, or another. City of Columbia, Missouri Page 1 Printed on 5/22/2017 Board of Health Meeting Minutes September 12, 2016 The amount of the fee shall not be an amount set by the subcommittee, but rather calculated to cover the cost of at least 2 inspections per tobacco retailer within the City of Columbia each year, and having non-compliant retailers inspected at a greater frequency. Another option could be a sliding scale fee based on volume of sales. Education of retailers is another key component. Important concepts that would be included would be best practices for checking a valid ID; strategies for prohibiting sales specific for under 21 (versus under 18); education regarding fines and possible license suspensions for selling tobacco; and possible development of a quiz or online training for retailers to use as tools to train sales staff. The fine schedule should be one that does not allow retailers to have one or two violations per year without some type of penalty. Fines should be a deterrent at the outset. Fines do need to be increased, and suspension of the license should be sooner for violations. The committee discussed if some of the license fees should be utilized for smoking cessation. However, it was noted that there are already resources provided by the Columbia Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services and the MU Wellness Resource Center. Another recommendation was to add a checkbox on the city business retail license form to prompt if tobacco is sold. However, the committee also discussed using a list of retailers as provided by tobacco distributors/wholesalers to identify retailers. It was further reiterated that this would include all forms of tobacco, including vaping. III. ADJOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned at 7:10 p.m. Members of the public may attend any open meeting. For requests for accommodations related to disability, please call 573-874-7214. In order to assist staff in making the appropriate arrangements for your accommodation, please make your request as far in advance of the posted meeting date as possible. City of Columbia, Missouri Page 2 Printed on 5/22/2017