Aurora City Council made it official Monday, approving a new tobacco licensing program that will crack down on retail outlets that sell products, like e-cigarettes and vaping cartridges, to those under 21 — with punishment starting at a $1,000 fine all the way to license revocation.
The measure, which passed unanimously, limits where new tobacco retailers in Aurora can locate — no closer than 1,500 feet to schools or 2,000 feet to another tobacco seller — in an attempt to prevent over-concentration of outlets in the city.
Existing retailers will be exempted from the spacing limits. The city has about 340 tobacco retailers.
The ordinance also covers sales of kratom and certain psychoactive hemp products to minors, and it gives the city greater oversight of hookah lounges. The new law does not ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, as was authorized by voters in neighboring Denver last fall.
The warns that tobacco products contain highly addictive nicotine and can harm a young person’s developing brain. The 2023 found that nearly 84% of Aurora youths who attempted to buy tobacco or vape products in the city were able to do so, despite not being of legal age.
The council passed the measure on first reading unanimously last month.
A first violation of the age limit by a tobacco retailer will be $1,000. A second violation will get a store owner a $2,000 fine and a seven-day suspension. And a third strike will raise the fine to $2,650 and the suspension to 21 days.
A store that violates the ordinance a fourth time within three years will lose its license.
A license will cost a business that sells tobacco products $500 annually, which will help pay for two compliance checks a year by the city. Aurora projects the program will generate about $170,000 a year, with an additional $30,000 expected from fines.
City spokesman Joe Rubino said license applications from retail outlets won’t be accepted for a couple of months as the city works to stand up the new program.
