Mountain View could ban e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco sales

Mountain View is seeking to establish a citywide ban on the sale of all flavored tobacco, electronic cigarettes and vape related products, with a goal of bringing down nicotine use among teens and young adults.

In a 6-1 vote, the City Council provided direction Tuesday evening for city staff to pursue a local ordinance in partnership with Santa Clara County that would tighten up the city’s tobacco regulations.

Council member Lucas Ramirez cast the dissenting vote, citing a preference for stricter regulations that would include asking all customers for identification when purchasing tobacco products.

“I grew up in a household with a smoker, and it was miserable. And I think we ought to make it as hard as possible to smoke in our community,” Ramirez said at the May 27 meeting.

California has some of the strongest regulations in the U.S. for flavored tobacco and e-cigarettes, according to the council report. Senate Bill 793 prohibits the sale of most flavored tobacco, including flavored e-cigarettes, the report said.

But for many cities, it has not been enough to curb teen tobacco use, and some have taken it a step further by enacting local ordinances that ban the sale of all e-cigarettes, even if they are not sold with flavored tobacco products, the report said.

Mountain View has lagged behind, according to the council report, which pointed out that the American Lung Association gave the city an overall grade of a “C” for its tobacco control policies. The city received a “F” in the specific category of “reducing sales of tobacco products.”

To remedy the situation, staff are recommending that Mountain View tap into Santa Clara County’s Tobacco Retail Permit program. The program has existed for nearly 10 years, and has been adopted by neighboring jurisdictions like Palo Alto, Cupertino and Los Gatos.

Under the program, Mountain View would model its ordinance on the county’s ordinance that bans most flavored tobacco and all e-cigarette devices. The permit program provides a licensing procedure for retailers to follow, processes applications and renewals, collects fees, and maintains a retailer database.

Currently, Mountain View does not have these processes in place, nor does it require most retailers to apply for or maintain a permit to operate in the city, the report said.

Mountain View does have a special permit process for “significant tobacco retailers.” These are allowed to operate only in certain parts of the city and require compliance with existing regulations, like ensuring that only store employees have access to tobacco products. They also have to adhere to advertising and age restrictions, the report said.

City Council members expressed support for adopting a local ordinance based on the county permit program, which would have stronger regulations and would help with retail licensing and enforcement. But there was some concern about enacting a potentially stringent permit process and its impact on local businesses.

Council member Pat Showalter voiced a preference for striking the right balance, so that retailers would not find it too onerous to set up shop and also would be more likely to comply with the regulations. “You don’t want to make it too hard or too easy. It’s got to be just the right amount so everybody does it,” she said.

Council member Lucas Ramirez took a different stance and advocated for making it harder to open up a tobacco retail store. “I think generally it should be easy to get a permit, except for this one,” Ramirez said. “This one should be as hard as possible. We should make it challenging to sell vaping tobacco in our community because it’s not good. It serves no purpose. It kills people quickly.”

The Mountain View Police Department has conducted some early outreach about the potential changes to the city’s tobacco regulations. According to the council report, officers met with two retailers, Great Vape and Fatty Zone. “Both businesses stated that the sales of e-cigarette devices were not a significant portion of their overall sales,” the report said.

The city plans to continue conducting outreach to businesses and to advisory committees before the ordinance is presented to the City Council later this year.

“I’m glad that we’re taking up this ordinance,” said Council member Emily Ann Ramos, adding that she also was in strong support of the county’s tobacco retail permit program.

“To be able to partner shows in our ability to be a very collaborative jurisdiction,” Ramos said. “This is one way we can do that, and there’s no really better value to do that than to protect the youth in our city.”

This story originally appeared in the Mountain View Voice. Emily Margaretten joined the Mountain View Voice in 2023 as a reporter covering City Hall.