Amd 1399-cc & 1399-ee, Pub Health L; amd 1607, Tax L
Requires a business that is shown to have sold a tobacco product to a minor to close pending the completion of an investigation; provides for the commissioner of taxation and finance to revoke the dealer's registration for a period not less than five years if they are found to have sold such tobacco product to a minor.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6509
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 25, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. KENNEDY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law and the tax law, in relation to
requiring a business that is shown to have sold a tobacco product to a
minor to close pending the completion of an investigation
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 1399-cc of the public health law is amended by
2 adding a new subdivision 8 to read as follows:
3 8. Any person operating a place of business wherein tobacco products,
4 herbal cigarettes, liquid nicotine, shisha or electronic cigarettes are
5 sold or offered for sale, who is found in violation of this section
6 shall immediately close such place of business pending the completion of
7 the enforcement action or hearing by an enforcement officer, pursuant to
8 section thirteen hundred ninety-nine-ff of this article.
9 § 2. Subdivisions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of section 1399-ee of the public
10 health law, subdivision 2 and paragraphs (e) and (f) of subdivision 3 as
11 amended by section 6 of part EE of chapter 56 of the laws of 2020, and
12 subdivisions 3, 4, and 5 as amended and subdivision 6 as added by chap-
13 ter 162 of the laws of 2002, are amended to read as follows:
14 2. If the enforcement officer determines after a hearing that a
15 violation of this article has occurred, he or she shall impose a civil
16 penalty of a minimum of three hundred dollars, but not to exceed one
17 thousand five hundred dollars for a first violation, and a minimum of
18 one thousand dollars, but not to exceed two thousand five hundred
19 dollars for each subsequent violation, unless a different penalty is
20 otherwise provided in this article and direct the commissioner of taxa-
21 tion and finance to suspend the dealer's registration for a period not
22 less than five years. [The enforcement officer shall advise the retail
23 dealer that upon the accumulation of three or more points pursuant to
24 this section the department of taxation and finance shall suspend the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05964-01-3
S. 6509 2
1 dealer's registration.] If the enforcement officer determines after a
2 hearing that a retail dealer was selling tobacco products while their
3 registration was suspended or permanently revoked pursuant to subdivi-
4 sion three or four of this section, he or she shall impose a civil
5 penalty of twenty-five hundred dollars.
6 3. [(a) Imposition of points. If the enforcement officer determines,
7 after a hearing, that the retail dealer violated subdivision one of
8 section thirteen hundred ninety-nine-cc of this article with respect to
9 a prohibited sale to a minor, he or she shall, in addition to imposing
10 any other penalty required or permitted pursuant to this section, assign
11 two points to the retail dealer's record where the individual who
12 committed the violation did not hold a certificate of completion from a
13 state certified tobacco sales training program and one point where the
14 retail dealer demonstrates that the person who committed the violation
15 held a certificate of completion from a state certified tobacco sales
16 training program.
17 (b) Revocation. If the enforcement officer determines, after a hear-
18 ing, that a retail dealer has violated this article four times within a
19 three year time frame he or she shall, in addition to imposing any other
20 penalty required or permitted by this section, direct the commissioner
21 of taxation and finance to revoke the dealer's registration for one
22 year.
23 (c) Duration of points. Points assigned to a retail dealer's record
24 shall be assessed for a period of thirty-six months beginning on the
25 first day of the month following the assignment of points.
26 (d) Reinspection. Any retail dealer who is assigned points pursuant to
27 paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall be reinspected at least two
28 times a year by the enforcement officer until points assessed are
29 removed from the retail dealer's record.
30 (e) Suspension. If the department determines that a retail dealer has
31 accumulated three points or more, the department shall direct the
32 commissioner of taxation and finance to suspend such dealer's registra-
33 tion for one year. The three points serving as the basis for a suspen-
34 sion shall be erased upon the completion of the one year penalty.
35 (f) Surcharge. A two hundred fifty dollar surcharge to be assessed
36 for every violation will be made available to enforcement officers and
37 shall be used solely for compliance checks to be conducted to determine
38 compliance with this section.
39 4.] (a) If the enforcement officer determines, after a hearing, that a
40 retail dealer has violated this article while their registration was
41 suspended pursuant to subdivision three of this section, he or she
42 shall, in addition to imposing any other penalty required or permitted
43 by this section, direct the commissioner of taxation and finance to
44 permanently revoke the dealer's registration and not permit the dealer
45 to obtain a new registration.
46 (b) If the enforcement officer determines, after a hearing, that a
47 vending machine operator has violated this article three times within a
48 two year period, or four or more times cumulatively he or she shall, in
49 addition to imposing any other penalty required or permitted by this
50 section, direct the commissioner of taxation and finance to suspend the
51 vendor's registration for one year and not permit the vendor to obtain a
52 new registration for such period.
53 [5.] 4. The department shall publish a notification of the name and
54 address of any retailer violating the provisions of this section and
55 indicate the number of times the dealer has violated the provisions of
S. 6509 3
1 this section. The notification shall be published in a newspaper of
2 general circulation in the locality in which the retailer is located.
3 [6. (a) In any proceeding pursuant to subdivision three of this
4 section to assign points to a retail dealer's record, the retail dealer
5 shall be assigned one point instead of two points where the]
6 5. (a) The retail dealer [demonstrates that the person] who committed
7 [the] a violation [of] pursuant to section thirteen hundred ninety-nine-
8 cc of this article [held] may complete and receive a valid certificate
9 of completion from a state certified tobacco sales training program to
10 reduce the number of years such retail license is suspended. After the
11 completion of such program, the retail dealer shall submit such certif-
12 icate of completion to the commissioner of taxation and finance who
13 shall determine whether to reduce such retail dealer's time of suspen-
14 sion.
15 (b) A state certified tobacco sales training program shall include
16 instruction in the following elements:
17 (1) the health effects of tobacco use, especially at a young age;
18 (2) the legal purchase age and the additional requirements of section
19 thirteen hundred ninety-nine-cc of this article;
20 (3) legal forms of identification and the key features thereof;
21 (4) reliance upon legal forms of identification and the right to
22 refuse sales when acting in good faith;
23 (5) means of identifying fraudulent identification of attempted under-
24 age purchasers;
25 (6) techniques used to refuse a sale;
26 (7) the penalties arising out of unlawful sales to underage individ-
27 uals; and
28 (8) the significant disciplinary action or loss of employment that may
29 be imposed by the retail dealer for a violation of the law or a devi-
30 ation from the policies of the retail dealer in respect to compliance
31 with such law.
32 (c) A tobacco sales training program may be given and administered by
33 a retail dealer duly registered under section four hundred eighty-a of
34 the tax law which operates five or more registered locations, by a trade
35 association whose members are registered as retail dealers, by national
36 and regional franchisors who have granted at least five franchises in
37 the state to persons who are registered as such retail dealers by a
38 cooperative corporation with five or more members who are registered as
39 retail dealers and are operating in this state, and by a wholesaler
40 supplying fifty or more retail dealers. A person or entity administering
41 such training program shall issue certificates of completion to persons
42 successfully completing such a training program. Such certificates shall
43 be prima facie evidence of the completion of such a training program by
44 the person named therein.
45 (d) A certificate of completion may be issued for a period of three
46 years, however such certificate shall be invalidated by a change in
47 employment.
48 (e) Entities authorized pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subdivision
49 to give and administer a tobacco sales training program may submit a
50 proposed curriculum, a facsimile of any training aids and materials, and
51 a list of training locations to the department for review. Training aids
52 may include the use of video, computer based instruction, printed mate-
53 rials and other formats deemed acceptable to the department. The depart-
54 ment shall certify programs which provide instruction in the elements
55 set forth in paragraph (b) of this subdivision in a clear and meaningful
56 fashion. Programs approved by the department shall be certified for a
S. 6509 4
1 period of three years at which time an entity may reapply for certif-
2 ication. A non-refundable fee in the amount of three hundred dollars
3 shall be paid to the department with each application.
4 § 3. Paragraph 1 of subdivision h of section 1607 of the tax law, as
5 amended by section 7 of part EE of chapter 56 of the laws of 2020, is
6 amended to read as follows:
7 1. A license shall be suspended for a period of one year upon notifi-
8 cation to the division by the commissioner of health of a lottery sales
9 agent's [accumulation of three or more points] retail license being
10 revoked pursuant to [subdivision three of] section thirteen hundred
11 ninety-nine-ee of the public health law.
12 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
13 have become a law.
