Changes Made to Golden Valley Tobacco Licensing Ordinance

Correction: City Councilman Mike Freiberg's last name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.

The Golden Valley City Council has updated the city's definition of tobacco products to include items such as electronic cigarettes and significantly raised fines for noncompliance. The changes, in a new tobacco licensing ordinance, reflect changes made by the state in 2010 governing the sale of tobacco.

“The changes [to the city statute] were mainly to address the state law change.” Councilmember Mike Freiberg said. “It’s good we’re updating the ordinance to match modern reality.”

Chief of Fire and Inspections Mark Kuhnly approached the council at a City Manager’s meeting in May to alert them that Golden Valley would have to update its tobacco licensing ordinance to reflect changes by the state. Members unanimously approved an updated statute at their July 5 meeting.

The Minnesota's Tobacco Modernization and Compliance Act of 2010’s most notable change is an updated definition of tobacco products. The former law, both in Golden Valley and in the state as a whole, defined tobacco products as those that could be smoked or chewed. The new definition addresses other means of ingestion. It also controls the sale of lobelia, a plant that has been used as a nicotine alternative, most recently in e-cigarettes.

Fines were also adjusted to be more in line with state averages. Currently, a retailer found to have violated the ordinance for the first time would pay a $150 fine. Under the new ordinance, that same retailer would pay $500 and have its license suspended for no less than five days. Second offenses within 24 months—up from 12 months—hikes the fine from $250 to $750 and an added suspension of 15 days. Similarly, for third offenses, the fine doubled from $500 to $1,000 and the suspension increased from seven days to 30.

These revisions, Kuhnly said, are based on a model provided by the League of Minnesota Cities and the Public Health Law center.