Retail Licenses for Tobacco – 11/16/04

Q: Does your state require tobacco retailers to obtain a license, and if so, how much does the license cost and what is the length of time covered?

A:

1. Alabama: Free/No Fee
    
2. Alaska: Tobacco Retail endorsement $100.00 per year, increase from $25 per two years (prior to 2003).
    
3. California: Statewide tobacco retailer licensing just became law this year. It was designed to prevent the sale of counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes. The state tobacco retailer license is a one-time $100.00 fee, but the license has to be renewed annually. Since the fee is one time only, it is not prorated based upon when it is applied for. The monies collected from the fee (in addition to a one-time manufacturer fee of 1-cent per pack distributed in California in 2001 and an annual wholesaler/distributor license fee of $1,000) are used by the state Board of Equalization and the Attorney General to administer and enforce the law, including the suspension and revocation of licenses of those retailers that engage in counterfeit sales or smuggling. There are provisions related to sales to youth, but given existing resources in enforcement of youth tobacco sales law (and the fact that none of the fees collected in this law are allocated to enforcing youth tobacco sales laws) they are impossible to achieve and add nothing to the law. As a side note, the one good thing about the law is that it does not preempt county/city retailer licensing, and there is currently a very strong movement in California to get localities to license retailers (in addition to the state law) and charge annual fees that provide sufficient resources for local law enforcement to conduct youth sales compliance checks, and that have meaningful suspension and revocation provisions. So, in some jurisdictions, retailers have two licenses.
    
4. Hawaii: No retail tobacco sales license.
    
5. Kentucky: Requires no license to sell tobacco products.
    
6. Maine: $50.00 per year license fee. Annual license renewal date is June 29th., there is no proration of fee for those who apply later in the year. Each individual vending machine requires a separate license.
    
7. Minnesota: Licensing fees are set by individual cities or municipalities, therefore cost varies.
    
8. Michigan: State doesn’t require a license. Four local communities’ license tobacco retailers thru local ordinances, their fees average $50.00.
    
9. Nebraska: The cost of licensing fees depends on size of city in which business is located. The cost is $25.00 in cities of the metropolitan class, $15.00 in cities of primary and first class and $10.00 in cities of all other classes and in towns, villages and locations outside city limits.
    
10. Oklahoma: A three year license costs $30.00 ($10.00 per year).
     
11. Rhode Island: A one time licensing fee which costs $25.00
     
12. Texas: Tobacco licensing fee is $180.00 for two years. Fee is prorated at $7.50 per month for those who obtain a permit during the two year period. All permits begin and end at the same time.
     
13. Washington: Tobacco licensing fee is $35.00 per year.
     
14. West Virginia: No tobacco retail license is required.
    

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