Amd SS1399-ee & 1399-ff, Pub Health L; amd S1607, Tax L
Increases civil penalties for illegal sales of tobacco products by
retail to minors; provides for warnings, suspensions, permanent
revocations, public notice of violations, and suspensions and revocations
of lottery sales licenses.
Eff. Date 09/01/2000
SPONSORS MEMO:
BILL NUMBER: A4471A
SPONSOR: Hochberg (MS)
TITLE
OF BILL: An act to amend the public health law and the
tax law,
in relation to increasing
penalties for sales of tobacco products to
minors
PURPOSE
OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: This bill seeks to impose and
increase penalties on
businesses which sell tobacco products to minors.
It will increase fines
and affect the business' tobacco and lottery
licenses when violations
occur.
SUMMARY
OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Section 1 increases the penalty
for a
first violation from
one hundred dollars to three hundred dollars, but
not to exceed one thousand
dollars, and increases the penalty for subse-
quent violations to
a minimum of five hundred dollars but not to exceed
one thousand five hundred
dollars. Additionally, a civil penalty of
twenty-five hundred
dollars will be imposed if a dealer is caught sell-
ing while a license
has been revoked. If dealers violate this article
two times their license
will be suspended for six months. With three or
more violations the
license is revoked. If the dealer violates this
article three or more
times the license is revoked for one year. If the
dealer continues to
sell tobacco under suspension the license will be
permanently revoked.
In addition, the name and address of the violator
and the number of times
he or she has violated the action will be
published in a general
circulation newspaper in the locality where the
retailer is located.
Sections 2 and 3 deal
with lottery licenses. If the dealer violates
this article and is
under a second violation then the health commission-
er notifies the lottery
division and the lottery license will be
suspended for six months.
Under a third violation the lottery license
will be permanently
revoked after notification of the lottery division
by the health commissioner.
JUSTIFICATION:
Selling tobacco to young people is an especially
deplorable act.
Those who would violate the law and sell tobacco to
children need to be
penalized more harshly than present law allows. The
profits made by selling
cigarettes to children far exceed the mere one
hundred dollar penalty
for a violation. Strong disincentives to those
who sell tobacco products
to young people are needed.
Young people who do
not smoke are significantly less likely to take up
smoking as a result.
By averting early addiction to tobacco, fewer
people will become adult
smokers. Furthermore, the public health costs
of smoking are well
documented. There will be significant savings to
taxpayers from having
fewer children develop an addiction to tobacco.
Ultimately, the responsibility
for purchasing tobacco lies with the
purchaser. However,
this bill will make dealers think twice before
selling to a minor.
PRIOR
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL
IMPLICATIONS:
None to state.
Increase in revenues from increased penalties.
EFFECTIVE
DATE:
This act shall take
effect September 1, 1999.
CHAPTER TEXT:
LAWS OF NEW YORK, 2000
AN ACT
to amend the public health law and the tax law, in relation to
increasing
penalties for sales of tobacco products to minors
Became a law August 30, 2000, with the approval of the Governor.
Passed by a majority vote, three-fifths being present.
The
People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
Section
1. Subdivision 2 and paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section
1399-ee of the
public health law, as added by chapter 799 of the laws of
1992, are amended
and a new subdivision 4 is added to read as follows:
2.
If the enforcement officer determines after
a hearing that a
violation of
this article has occurred, he or she shall impose a civil
penalty
of a minimum of [one] three
hundred dollars, but not to exceed
[three
hundred] one thousand
dollars for a first violation, and a
mini-
mum of five hundred dollars, but not to exceed one thousand
five
hundred
dollars
for each subsequent violation. The
enforcement officer shall
advise the retail dealer that upon a finding of any subsequent violation
of this section the department of taxation and
finance can either
suspend or revoke the dealer's registration. If the enforcement officer
determines after a hearing that a retail
dealer was selling tobacco
products while their registration was either suspended or
permanently
revoked pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision three of this section,
he or she shall impose a civil penalty of twenty-five hundred dollars.
(a)
(1)
If the enforcement officer determines, after a hearing, that a
retail dealer
has violated this article [three times within
a two year
period, or four or more times cumulatively]
twice
he or she shall, in
addition to imposing
any other penalty required or permitted by this
section,
direct the commissioner of taxation and finance to suspend the
dealer's registration
for [one year] six
months. The enforcement offi-
cer shall advise the dealer that upon a finding of a third violation
of
this section such dealer's registration shall be revoked.
(2) If the enforcement officer determines, after a hearing,
that a
retail dealer has violated this article three or more
times he or she
shall, in addition to imposing any other penalty required or
permitted
by this section, direct the commissioner
of taxation and finance to
revoke the dealer's registration for one year.
(3) If the enforcement officer determines, after a hearing,
that a
retail dealer has violated this article while their
registration was
suspended pursuant to either subparagraph one or two of this paragraph,
he or she shall, in addition to imposing any other penalty
required or
permitted by this section, direct the commissioner
of taxation and
finance to permanently revoke the dealer's registration and
not permit
the dealer to obtain a new registration.
4. The department shall publish a notification of the name and address
of any retailer violating the provisions of this section and
indicate
the number of times the dealer has
violated the provisions of this
EXPLANATION--Matter
in italics is new; matter in
brackets [-] is old law
to be omitted.
CHAP. 405 2
section.
The notification shall be published in a newspaper of general
circulation in the locality in which the retailer is located.
§
2. Subdivision 3 of section 1399-ff of the public health
law, as
added by chapter
799 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:
3.
The enforcement officer shall promptly notify the commissioner
of
taxation
and finance and the director of the division
of the lottery of
any determination,
made after a hearing, that a violation of this arti-
cle has
occurred together with a direction to such commissioner
and
director with respect to any action to be taken concerning
registration
under section
four hundred eighty-a of the tax law and licensing
under
section sixteen hundred seven of the tax law.
§
3. Section 1607 of the tax law is amended by adding a new subdivi-
sion h to read
as follows:
h.
A violation of article thirteen-F of the
public health law as
provided in this subdivision:
1. A license shall be suspended for a period of
six months upon
notification to the division by the commissioner of health of a lottery
sales agent's second violation of article thirteen-F
of the public
health law.
2. A license shall be permanently revoked upon
notification to the
division by the commissioner of health of a lottery sales agent's
third
violation of article thirteen-F of the public health law.
§
4. This act shall take effect September 1, 2000.
The Legislature
of the STATE OF NEW YORK ss:
Pursuant
to the authority vested in us by section 70-b of the Public
Officers Law,
we hereby jointly certify that this slip copy of
this
session law was
printed under our direction and, in accordance with such
section, is entitled
to be read into evidence.
JOSEPH L. BRUNO
SHELDON SILVER
Temporary
President of the Senate
Speaker of the Assembly