Dublin Council Discussed Smoking Law

After years of going after cigarette smoke, Dublin is setting its sights on the source. Tuesday, the City Council will begin discussing laws that could make Dublin one of the toughest cities in the Bay Area on smoking tax free Sobranie cigarettes and tobacco products. Council members are scheduled to begin the process to establish a minimum distance future tobacco retailers can be from places where children are present and a licensing fee for all tobacco retailers. It could be months before the council votes on an ordinance. "We are trying to do what we can to limit tobacco exposure to kids," said Dublin Mayor Tim Sbranti, who will be in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday at a mayors' conference. "These (types) of ordinances will help with that."
Dublin first took a stance on cigarette smoke in 2006, when it became the first Bay Area city to declare secondhand smoke a public nuisance. The move paved the way for other Bay Area cities to pass stricter smoking laws, including Belmont, which banned it in apartments and condos. Since then, Dublin has also passed laws that limit smoking in apartment complexes, prohibit it in licensed private-care homes and require smoking be done at least 100 feet away from trails, buildings and other recreation areas. "It is great that Dublin is stepping up on sales because (limiting smoking) is a comprehensive approach," said Serena Chen, policy director for the Bay Area region of the American Lung Association. "They have already talked about secondhand smoke, and now the other hot spot is kids being wooed by tobacco." The American Lung Association issues an annual report card for each city in California that grades them in three areas: smoke-free outdoor air, smoke-free housing and reduction of tobacco-product sales. In last year's report card, Dublin received a B and an A, respectively, in the first two categories but earned an F in the sales of tobacco products, lowering its overall grade to a C. New report cards are expected to be released Thursday. To address the sales area, the Dublin council is expected to consider whether new tobacco retailers can be within 500 to 1,500 feet of schools and other kid-friendly places such as parks, libraries, child-care facilities and libraries. The council will also consider a grandfather clause for existing tobacco retailers that are within the decided distance from schools. Also up for consideration is a limit on the number of new retailers in one given area, banning new retailers in areas zoned specifically as residential and establishing a licensing fee. The moves are aimed at helping to limit exposure near children and to help police the sales of tobacco. Chen called the distance laws and licensing fees a one-two punch in helping protect minors against tobacco use. "Communities are seeing that you don't need that many places to sell tobacco," said Chen. "Fewer places make it easier to regulate and easier to pinpoint who is selling to minors." She also cautioned that the only way to cause a decline in tobacco use is to tax it, something that can only be done at the state level with a two-thirds majority vote. If Dublin does pass laws limiting tobacco sales, it would join four other Bay Area cities with limiting the distance tobacco sellers can be from children and licensing fees for tobacco retailers, according to data from the Center for Tobacco Policy and Organizing, an American Lung Association project based in Sacramento.