Suspending, revoking, or refusing to renew cigarette and tobacco products retailer licenses. (FE)

Current law also provides that a court must suspend a retailer's license if the court finds the retailer guilty of two or more violations of certain restrictions relating to sales to minors within a 12-month period.

This bill allows a municipality to suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew a cigarette and tobacco products retailer license if the retailer does any of the following: 1) violates certain restrictions relating to the sale of cigarettes and tobacco; 2) keeps premises that are disorderly, riotous, indecent, or improper; 3) has failed to maintain the premises according to sanitation standards; 4) has permitted known criminals or prostitutes to loiter on the premises; 5) has been convicted of manufacturing, distributing, or delivering, or possessing with the intent to manufacture, distribute, or deliver, a controlled substance; or 6) knowingly allows another person on the licensed premises to manufacture, distribute, or deliver, or possess with the intent to manufacture, distribute, or deliver, a controlled substance.

Under the bill, a resident or authorized employee of the municipality that issued the retailer license may file a sworn complaint with the municipal clerk, alleging one of these grounds for suspension, revocation, or nonrenewal. The person holding the retailer license is then entitled to a hearing before the municipal governing body. The municipal governing body must find the allegations of the complaint to be true and find that there are sufficient grounds for suspension, revocation, or nonrenewal before suspending, revoking, or refusing to renew the license. If a retailer's license is revoked following a hearing, the retailer may not obtain another such license for 12 months. The municipal governing body's decision to suspend, revoke, or not renew a license, or its decision not to act, may be reviewed by the circuit court for the county in which the license was issued.

Under current law, it is a defense to any prosecution for selling cigarettes or tobacco products to a minor if the retailer can show that the purchaser falsely represented that he or she was at least 18 years of age, presented an identification card, and appeared to be at least 18, and that the sale was made in good faith. The bill provides that this is also a defense to a complaint, made under the procedures described in this bill, that alleges the retailer sold cigarettes or tobacco products to a minor.