STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6842--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 21, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT, D'URSO, REYES, COOK, EPSTEIN,
JAFFEE, PICHARDO, LIFTON, ARROYO, ABINANTI, STECK, SIMON, BLAKE,
WILLIAMS, GLICK, ORTIZ, GRIFFIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
DINOWITZ, SAYEGH -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health
-- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended
and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to prohibited
locations for retail electronic cigarette stores and tobacco busi-
nesses
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 1399-aa of the public health law is amended by
2 adding a new subdivision 14 to read as follows:
3 14. "Retail electronic cigarette store" means a retail store devoted
4 primarily to the sale of electronic cigarettes, and in which the sale of
5 other products is incidental. The sale of such other products shall be
6 considered incidental if such sales generate less than twenty-five
7 percent of the total annual gross sales.
8 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section
9 1399-mm-1 to read as follows:
10 § 1399-mm-1. Retail electronic cigarette stores and tobacco busi-
11 nesses; prohibited locations of new stores. 1. No new retail electronic
12 cigarette store and/or tobacco business shall be constructed or located:
13 (a) on the same street or avenue and within two hundred feet of a
14 building occupied exclusively as a school, church, synagogue or other
15 place of worship;
16 (b) in a city within five hundred feet of three or more existing
17 retail electronic cigarette stores and/or tobacco businesses; or
18 (c) in a town or village within a two square mile area of three or
19 more existing retail electronic cigarette stores and/or tobacco busi-
20 nesses.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09776-12-9
A. 6842--A 2
1 2. The measurements in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subdivision one
2 of this section are to be taken in straight lines from the center of the
3 nearest entrance of the premises sought to be licensed to the center of
4 the nearest entrance of such school, church, synagogue or other place of
5 worship or to the center of the nearest entrance of each new retail
6 electronic cigarette store and/or tobacco business.
7 3. Within the context of this section, the word "entrance" shall mean
8 a door of a school, of a house of worship, or of a new retail electronic
9 cigarette store and/or tobacco business, regularly used to give ingress
10 to students of the school, to the general public attending the place of
11 worship, and to patrons or guests of a new retail electronic cigarette
12 store and/or tobacco business, except that where a school or house of
13 worship or new retail electronic cigarette store and/or tobacco business
14 is set back from a public thoroughfare, the walkway or stairs leading to
15 any such door shall be deemed an entrance; and the measurement shall be
16 taken to the center of the walkway or stairs at the point where it meets
17 the building line or public thoroughfare. A door which has no exterior
18 hardware, or which is used solely as an emergency or fire exit, or for
19 maintenance purposes, or which leads directly to a part of a building
20 not regularly used by the general public or patrons, is not deemed an
21 "entrance".
22 4. Within the context of this section, a building occupied as a place
23 of worship does not cease to be "exclusively" occupied as a place of
24 worship by incidental uses that are not of a nature to detract from the
25 predominant character of the building as a place of worship, such uses
26 which include, but which are not limited to: the conduct of legally
27 authorized games of bingo or other games of chance held as a means of
28 raising funds for the not-for-profit religious organization which
29 conducts services at the place of worship or for other not-for-profit
30 organizations or groups; use of the building for fundraising perform-
31 ances by or benefitting the not-for-profit religious organization which
32 conducts services at the place of worship or other not-for-profit organ-
33 izations or groups; the use of the building by other religious organiza-
34 tions or groups for religious services or other purposes; the conduct of
35 social activities by or for the benefit of the congregants; the use of
36 the building for meetings held by organizations or groups providing
37 bereavement counseling to persons having suffered the loss of a loved
38 one, or providing advice or support for conditions or diseases includ-
39 ing, but not limited to, alcoholism, drug addiction, cancer, cerebral
40 palsy, Parkinson's disease, or Alzheimer's disease; the use of the
41 building for blood drives, health screenings, health information meet-
42 ings, yoga classes, exercise classes or other activities intended to
43 promote the health of the congregants or other persons; and use of the
44 building by non-congregant members of the community for private social
45 functions. The building occupied as a place of worship does not cease to
46 be "exclusively" occupied as a place of worship where the not-for-profit
47 religious organization occupying the place of worship accepts the
48 payment of funds to defray costs related to another party's use of the
49 building.
50 5. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any currently
51 existing retail electronic cigarette stores and/or tobacco businesses.
52 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
53 it shall have become a law.