(Amended by Ord. No. 183,819, Eff. 9/30/15.)
(a) Any Tobacco Retailer determined by the City Attorney or designee to have violated any provision of this article shall be subject to the penalties of this section. The City Attorney or designee shall notify the Tobacco Retailer of any initial determination of violation of this article, and shall specify the violation and the penalty imposed, including the effective date of the suspension, if any. The notice shall further state that the Tobacco Retailer may, within 15 calendar days of the date of the notice, submit to the City Attorney any written or documentary evidence to contest the initial determination of violation. After receiving and considering the evidence provided, the City Attorney or designee shall prepare a final written decision with findings, and shall serve the final determination upon the Tobacco Retailer. Upon written request, the Tobacco Retailer shall have the right to receive copies of any records upon which the final determination is based. The final determination shall be served within 30 calendar days of the initial determination. (Amended by Ord. No. 187,525, Eff. 7/16/22.)
(b) Administrative penalties shall be imposed as follows:
(1) For the first violation in any five-year period, the Tobacco Retailer's Permit shall be suspended for 30 calendar days;
(2) For the second violation in any five-year period, the Tobacco Retailer's Permit shall be suspended for 90 calendar days;
(3) For a third violation in any five-year period, the Tobacco Retailer's Permit shall be suspended for 120 calendar days;
(4) For a fourth violation in any five-year period, the Tobacco Retailer's Permit shall be revoked. The Office of Finance shall not issue a Tobacco Retailer's Permit to a location at which a Tobacco Retailer's Permit has been revoked unless a period of three years has passed since the date of the issuance of the revocation, and the tobacco retailer attends and completes a tobacco retailer education program provided by the City Attorney.
(c) For the duration of any Tobacco Retailer's Permit suspension, the tobacco retailer shall clearly and conspicuously post a Notice of Suspension sign provided by the City Attorney at each customer entrance. Failure to post the Notice of Suspension sign during a suspension period shall be punishable as an infraction.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, prior violations, permit suspension periods and permit revocation shall continue to apply to a location unless the business engaged in tobacco retailing at that location has been fully transferred to a new proprietor with no financial relationship to the former proprietor, and the new proprietor provides the City Attorney with clear and convincing evidence that the new proprietor has acquired or is acquiring the business in an arm's-length transaction.
(1) The City Attorney's determination of an arm's-length transaction shall be provided to the Office of Finance in written form and waive the requirements for reinstatement of a revoked permit listed in Subsection (b)(4) of this section.