New Jersey Assembly Votes to Triple Fines for Selling Tobacco to Anyone Under 21 — and the Bill's Sponsor Is From Essex County
The Assembly approved the measure 66-7. Fines would rise to $750, $1,500 and $3,000, licenses would be suspended or revoked on a municipality's request, and 5% of penalties would fund vaping education — but the bill has not advanced in the Senate.
New Jersey retailers could face tripled fines and faster tobacco-license penalties for selling tobacco products to people under 21 under a bill the state Assembly approved last week, according to reports by New Jersey Hills and The American Star News read by this desk on Monday — legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Michael Venezia, a Democrat from Essex County.
Assembly lawmakers approved the measure on a 66-7 vote, with four Republicans abstaining, according to the reports. The bill would triple the progressive fines for retailers who sell any tobacco product to anyone below the age of 21: from $250 to $750 for a first violation, from $500 to $1,500 for a second, and from $1,000 to $3,000 for third and subsequent violations.
The bill would also lower the bar for the state to strip violators of their tobacco licenses. Under current law, the state Division of Taxation has discretion to suspend or revoke a license; under the bill, the division would be required to suspend a retailer's tobacco license when the host municipality requests it after a local hearing, and would have to revoke the license after a second violation if the municipality makes the request, according to the reports. Fines would go to the host municipality, and 5% of the penalties would be directed to the state Department of Health for nicotine-vaping education and outreach programs.
The measure is aimed at stopping teenagers from using electronic cigarettes, which lawmakers say have proliferated in recent years, according to the reports. Its future is not settled: the bill has not advanced in the Senate, and Sen. Joe Vitale said movement there is a matter of timing, according to The American Star News report. For Essex County shop owners, the practical message is that Trenton has voted once to make an underage sale three times as expensive — with the Senate still to decide.
