Smokers soon will no longer be able to purchase cigarettes at bars and restaurants and retail stores will have to buy a license to sell tobacco products in unincorporated areas of the county.

With no comment from bar and restaurant owners or tobacco users and no discussion among themselves, the County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an ordinance requiring tobacco sales licenses at retail stores within the county's jurisdiction.

The board voted 4-0, with Supervisor Harry Ovitt absent, to approve the ordinance first introduced Aug. 26, when supervisors added a section that would ban tobacco sales at bars and restaurants.

Requiring retail licenses is designed to prevent minors from buying tobacco products, according to Susan Hughes, program manager for the county's Tobacco Control Program.

When the ordinance was first introduced, Hughes said similar ordinances enacted in other cities in California resulted in illegal sales to minors dropping dramatically.

State law only fines clerks who sell tobacco to minors, which doesn't impact business owners. But the license can be revoked, civil action initiated in court and fines of $200 to $1,000 imposed on the owners of businesses where tobacco is sold to minors.

Officials expect those penalties to make business owners more vigilant about making clerks check for identification before selling tobacco.

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San Luis Obispo, Arroyo Grande and Grover Beach have already enacted tobacco license laws, and county officials believe those laws have caused youths to try buying tobacco from stores outside city limits.

Under the county ordinance, merchants will pay a $341.95 annual fee for the license.

Currently, a total of 78 retailers will be required to buy licenses to sell tobacco. Of those, 32 are located in the South County areas of Nipomo, rural Arroyo Grande, Oceano and Avila Beach.

The county staff report did not indicate how many bars and restaurants will be banned from selling tobacco products when the law becomes effective Dec. 15.

Under the ordinance, “tobacco products” are broadly interpreted to include such items as cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff and chewing tobacco.

The ordinance also extends the license and prohibition to “tobacco paraphernalia,” which includes cigarette papers, pipes, rolling machines and any other items for smoking, preparing, storing or otherwise consuming tobacco products.

September 17, 2008