Agenda Packet Cc - Regular Meeting 9/22/2025

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AGENDA ITEM Date: September 22, 2025 Title: City Code Update - Tobacco Sales - Ordinance 316 Presenter: Christine Lusian, City Clerk Section: Public Hearing Purpose: Update the city's tobacco sales ordinance to align with state law. Item: 11 2. Background: Since April, city staff have been working in collaboration with representatives from Hennepin County Public Health to review and propose improvements to Orono's tobacco sales ordinance. The purpose of this effort is to make the ordinance easier to understand, ensure alignment with state law, and clearly cover all products intended to be regulated. Key proposed changes at this time include: • License holders must be at least 21 years old. • Clearer definitions of tobacco and related products. • Age verification required for anyone under 30 with penalties for underage sales. • Signage required to show the legal sales age. • Vaping liquids must be sold in child -resistant packaging. • No self-service displays or vending machine sales of tobacco products. • Minimum fines and penalties for ordinance violations. • Allow more time for appeals and an education option. • Clear timelines for appeals and effective dates for new rules. The proposed revisions, developed with input from Hennepin County Public Health staff, seek to provide clearer definitions of tobacco, nicotine, and related products; align local ordinance language with state law; ensure retailers are equipped to comply with age -verification, packaging, and sales requirements; and establish clear penalties and procedures to support enforcement. These updates are intended to maintain a balanced approach: protecting youth from the harms of nicotine addiction while supporting retailers with clear, consistent, and enforceable regulations. 3. Cost: Supplemental updates to the code, made in between full revisions (which occur every 10-15 years), are billed at $22 per page. Newspaper publication costs $12.60 per column inch, so publishing a summary is more cost-effective than publishing the complete ordinance. 4. Process: August 27: Retailers received the proposed ordinance by mail and were invited to share feedback (No written comments have been received). September 22: Retailers are encouraged to attend and share feedback; Council will consider adopting the proposed updates. October 4: Effective date, if adopted, staff will publish a summary in the official newspaper and the ordinance updates will take effect. 89