The Albany Common Council is considering a new law to help protect children from tobacco marketing and to reduce tobacco retailer density within the city.
What does the law do?
The proposed local law in the City of Albany is intended to 1) reduce tobacco retailer density overall; 2) reduce tobacco retailer density near schools; 3) increase the distance between tobacco retailers; and 4) give authority to the City to take stronger actions against retailers who violate federal, state and local laws. While the proposed law has its limitations (including exempting retailers that sell gas from the non-transferability provision), it does appear to accomplish its stated goals.
Local Law L, proposed by the Albany Common Council, restricts licensing for tobacco retailers in the city of Albany. Here is what is in the law:
- No new retailers within 500 feet of a school or public park
- No new retailers within 1000 feet of another retailer
- One year after law goes into effect, they will issue one for every two revoked or expired licenses until a floor of 20 LTRs
- $250 licensing fee to cover administrative costs
- All licenses not transferable except for gas stations
- Penalties include suspension or revocation of license
Our Program Manager spoke about Local Law L on Hudson Mohawk Magazine on December 15th. You can listen to the interview here.
To learn more about tobacco retailer density within the city of Albany, read our report from July 2023.
To the left is a typical tobacco product display. If you don’t use tobacco, you may not even notice, but kids do. Kids see. Kids notice. Kids remember. In fact, kids are more than twice as likely as adults to notice and remember retail tobacco marketing.