L.L. 2013/091

Enactment date: 11/9/2013

Int. No. 1134-A

By Council Members Koo, Arroyo, Gentile, Gonzalez, Greenfield, Koslowitz, Palma, Rose, Vacca, Vallone, Rodriguez, Eugene, Van Bramer, Brewer, Lappin, Vann, Jackson, Gennaro, Lander, Levin, Williams and Halloran

A Local Law in relation to the creation of a Food Service Establishment Advisory Board.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]

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§ 2. This local law shall take effect immediately, provided that section 1 of this local law shall expire, be deemed repealed, and cease to be of force and effect after January 1, 2024.

L.L. 2013/094

Enactment date: 11/19/2013

Int. No. 250-A

By Council Members Gennaro, Chin, Palma, Van Bramer, the Speaker (Council Member Quinn), Rodriguez, Rivera, Dromm, Vacca, Brewer, Dickens, Crowley, Eugene and King

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to raising the sales age from eighteen to twenty-one years for cigarettes and tobacco products and establishing a sales age of twenty-one years for electronic cigarettes.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Legislative intent. Tobacco use remains a leading cause of preventable premature death in New York City, killing thousands of New Yorkers every year and increasing the risks of lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, asthma, emphysema, pre-term delivery, low birth weight, and many other types of cancer. Furthermore, cigarettes are the only consumer products that, when used exactly as intended, kill up to one-third of regular users.

In 2002, the City launched a comprehensive program to reduce and prevent tobacco use. By implementing multiple strategies-including legislation restricting the use and sale of cigarettes and tobacco products, public education media campaigns, and the promotion of smoking cessation-and rigorously evaluating those efforts, the City has succeeded in reducing the prevalence of adult smoking by 28 percent, from 21.5 percent in 2002 to 15.5 percent in 2012. The prevalence of youth smoking has also declined substantially, from 17.6 percent in 2001 to 8.5 percent in 2007. Youth smoking rates, however, have plateaued since 2007, and remain at 8.5 percent as of 2011. Almost 100,000 persons between eighteen and twenty-four years of age, as well as 19,000 New York City public high school students, currently smoke.

Most smokers start using tobacco as youth or young adults. In New York City, 80 percent of smokers started smoking before they turned twenty-one years old. Furthermore, there is strong evidence that people who begin smoking at an early age are more likely to develop a severe addiction to nicotine than those who start at a later age. The transition from experimental to regular smoking typically occurs around twenty years old. Most people who are not smokers by twenty-one years of age do not start smoking later in their lives.

Raising the legal sales age for cigarettes and tobacco products will reduce access to both products in stores among young adults, between eighteen and twenty years old, and among youth who are younger than eighteen. According to one study, raising the minimum sales age to twenty-one could reduce the smoking rate over time among eighteen to twenty year olds by 55 percent and among fourteen to seventeen year olds by two-thirds. Raising the sales age will reduce access to cigarettes and tobacco products by youth because youth often acquire such products from older friends: 90 percent of people purchasing cigarettes for minors are between eighteen and twenty years old.

Other jurisdictions that have increased the minimum sales age for cigarettes and tobacco products have seen decreases in tobacco use among youth. In 2005, Needham, Massachusetts increased the legal sales age from eighteen to twenty-one years. Between 2006 and 2012, the percentage of high school students in Needham who reported smoking declined from 12.9 percent to 5.5 percent, a decrease of over 50 percent. In 2007, England increased the minimum sales age from sixteen to eighteen years. By 2009, there was a 30 percent decline in smoking among youth between the ages of sixteen and seventeen, and younger students between the ages of eleven and fifteen were one-third less likely to be regular smokers than they had been previously.

Electronic cigarettes have emerged as an alternative to cigarettes. Sales of electronic cigarettes doubled from nearly $300 million in 2011 to $600 million in 2012. According to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of middle and high school students in the United States who have used electronic cigarettes more than doubled from 2011 to 2012. Among high school students, the percentage who reported ever using an electronic cigarette increased from 4.7 percent in 2011 to 10.0 percent in 2012. More than 1.78 million middle and high school students nationwide tried electronic cigarettes in 2012. Electronic cigarettes are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and contain nicotine, a potent and highly addictive substance, as well as potentially harmful chemicals. Although the long-term effects of electronic cigarette use require further study, the FDA has expressed concerns about their safety. Adolescents are more susceptible to the addictive properties of nicotine. Compared with adults, adolescents appear to display evidence of nicotine dependence at much lower levels of consumption. Thus, exposure to nicotine during adolescence may lead to a lifetime of nicotine addiction. Establishing a legal sales age of twenty-one years for electronic cigarettes will reduce electronic cigarette use among youth and prevent the emergence of a new generation that is addicted to nicotine.

The Council therefore finds that establishing a minimum sales age of twenty-one for cigarettes, tobacco products, and electronic cigarettes will reduce smoking, tobacco, and electronic cigarette use among youth and young adults, and decrease the likelihood that members of this cohort will become smokers or electronic cigarette users later in life. This increase in the minimum sales age will also reduce high school students' opportunities to access tobacco or electronic cigarettes from legal buyers. Moreover, this proposal will simplify enforcement for retailers selling cigarettes, tobacco products, or electronic cigarettes because New York State driver's licenses conspicuously indicate when a licensee is under twenty-one years of age. Finally, raising the minimum sales age will augment existing tobacco prevention and control programs and improve the general health of all New Yorkers.

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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]

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§ 4. This local law shall take effect one hundred eighty days after it shall have been enacted into law, provided that the commissioner of the department of health and mental hygiene may take such actions as are necessary for the implementation of this local law, including promulgation of rules, on and after the date of enactment.

L.L. 2013/097

Enactment date: 11/19/2013

Int. No. 1021-A

By Council Members Arroyo, Cabrera, Chin, Comrie, Jr., Dromm, Fidler, King, Lander, Lappin, Rodriguez, Levin, Vann, Vacca, Palma, Gennaro, Koslowitz, Van Bramer, Koo, Crowley, Eugene and Recchia, Jr. (by request of the Mayor)

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products, and the regulation of retail dealers and wholesale dealers of cigarettes, and repealing section 17-707 of the administrative code of the city of New York, relating to requiring public health messages where tobacco advertisements appear.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Legislative findings. The Council hereby finds that tobacco use is a leading cause of preventable premature death in the United States and the City of New York, and cigarette trafficking costs New York City and State hundreds of millions of dollars annually in foregone tax revenue. Cigarettes are the only consumer products that, when used exactly as intended, kill up to one-third of regular users. Currently, 981,000 adults smoke in New York City. In 2011, 28,000 New York City public high school students under the age of eighteen experimented with smoking for the first time; of those, more than one-third (35%) currently smoke. In total, approximately 19,000 New York City public high school students under the age of eighteen smoke. Smoking-related illnesses cost New Yorkers billions of dollars annually in health care costs and lost productivity.

Given the substantial human and economic costs associated with tobacco use, New York City has taken numerous steps to reduce tobacco use among adults and to stop youth (persons under the age of eighteen) from starting to use cigarettes and tobacco products. In 2002, New York City employed a comprehensive, multifaceted tobacco control program incorporating the following components: (1) high cigarette excise taxes; (2) educational media campaigns on the risks of tobacco use; (3) a cessation program that helps people to quit; and (4) laws imposing restrictions and regulations on the sale and use of cigarettes and tobacco products. The City has succeeded in reducing the prevalence of adult tobacco use from 21.5% in 2002 to 15.5% in 2012, a 28% reduction. Prevalence among youth also declined substantially from 17.6% in 2001 to 8.5% in 2007. Youth smoking rates, however, have plateaued since, and remain at 8.5% as of 2011.

Because tobacco use persists among youth and adults, the City must take further action. Preventing youth and young adults from taking up smoking is critical because, in New York City, 80% of adults who become daily smokers start smoking before reaching the age of twenty-one, and nationwide, 99% of smokers start by age twenty-six. The City employs a strong retail inspection program to prevent illegal sales to youth, conducting more than 9,000 retail inspections annually, only 10% of which result in violations. Nevertheless, more than a quarter of underage New York City public high school students who smoke buy their cigarettes from retail stores.

The Council further finds, based on numerous studies, that high tobacco prices reduce tobacco consumption among both youth, who are especially price-sensitive, and adults. A 10% increase in cigarette prices reduces demand among adult smokers by 3-5% and among youth by 7%. High prices reduce the prevalence of tobacco use, the probability of trying tobacco for the first time, the average number of cigarettes consumed per smoker, initiation of daily smoking, and initiation of daily heavy smoking. In addition, reductions in smoking prevalence indirectly lead to even greater reductions by minimizing peer and parental influences and by helping addicted smokers to succeed in quitting.

Just as high tobacco prices decrease demand, the availability of low-priced cigarettes and tobacco products increases demand and contributes to continued tobacco use. Low-priced cigarettes and tobacco products are widely available in New York City through a number of sources.

First, contraband cigarettes are widely available at low effective prices that are only possible through tax evasion, thereby undermining the public health purpose of New York City's high cigarette taxes. Criminal actors take advantage of the disparities in state cigarette excise taxes along the East Coast by trafficking cigarettes from low-tax jurisdictions to high-tax jurisdictions, violating numerous laws in the process. For example, Virginia's excise tax on cigarettes is $0.30 per pack; in New York City, the combined excise tax is $5.85 per pack, including the $4.35 State tax and the $1.50 City tax. A trafficker purchasing 10,000 packs of cigarettes in Virginia could profit tens of thousands of dollars reselling them in New York City.

Several studies show the widespread availability of trafficked cigarettes. In a 2011 study of littered cigarette packs in New York City, only 39% of littered packs bore the proper New York City tax stamp; and among packs with out-of-state stamps, 71.4% were from Virginia. Out of 1,071 targeted investigations of licensed retailers in 2012 by the New York City Department of Finance's Sheriff's Office, 55% of the retailers possessed cigarettes without the required New York City tax stamp.

Cigarette tax evasion puts law-abiding retailers at a competitive disadvantage relative to retailers and street sellers selling untaxed cigarettes. Cigarette tax evasion also hurts the government and taxpayers. New York State's Department of Health estimated that cigarette excise tax evasion deprived the State of $500 million in 2009. New York City's cigarette tax revenue losses amount to a substantial fraction of New York State's losses. Available evidence suggests the extent of cigarette tax revenue losses has likely increased since 2009.

Second, the use of coupons, multipackage discounts and other price reduction instruments, all of which are widely available in New York City, reduce retail prices for tobacco products. In a 2011 study of New York City smokers attempting to quit, 25% reported using a coupon or other discount on their last purchase, saving an average $1.25 per package of cigarettes. Discounts entice consumers, including price-sensitive youth, to purchase deadly and highly addictive products.

Third, as cigarette prices have increased, smokers, particularly youth and young adults, have migrated to cheaper tobacco products. Little cigars, for example, appear virtually identical to cigarettes and cost substantially less. Manufactured cigarillos, cigars and smokeless tobacco are also less expensive alternatives. These products are not subject to New York City excise taxes or other fees specific to cigarettes and are often sold individually for one to two dollars. Despite well-documented risks, smokers of all ages - especially youth and young adults in low-income urban areas - erroneously perceive cigars as less harmful than cigarettes.

The Council hereby declares that enactment of this law is necessary to address the persistent availability of low-priced cigarettes and tobacco products in New York City. This law will (1) reduce the illegal evasion of cigarette excise taxes; (2) ban the redemption of coupons and other price reduction instruments in the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products to consumers; (3) create a price floor for a package of cigarettes and little cigars; and (4) require inexpensive cigars to be sold in packages of no fewer than four. Such actions are necessary to maximize the public health impact of high tobacco prices, prevent traffickers from profiting from illegal cigarette sales and New York City and State from losing billions of dollars in tax revenue, and protect law-abiding retailers who are at a competitive disadvantage relative to retailers who illegally evade excise taxes.

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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]

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§ 27. This local law shall take effect immediately, provided that:

   (i)   sections two, seven, eight, nine, eleven, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-four and twenty-six shall take effect sixty days after its enactment;

   (ii)   sections five, six, ten, twelve and thirteen shall take effect one hundred twenty days after its enactment;

   (iii)   section twenty-five shall take effect one hundred eighty days after its enactment; and

   (iv)   the commissioners of finance, consumer affairs and health and mental hygiene may take such actions as are necessary for its implementation, including the promulgation of rules, prior to such effective dates.

L.L. 2013/102

Enactment date: 11/19/2013

Int. No. 1166-A

By Council Members Koslowitz, Chin, Comrie, James, Koo, Rose, Barron and Williams

A Local Law to amend the New York city charter, the administrative code of the city of New York and section 13 of local law number 61 for the year 1991, in relation to reporting by certain entities under contract with the department of small business services.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]

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§ 4. Section 13 of local law number 61 for the year 1991 is amended to read as follows:

§ 13. Notwithstanding any provision of the charter to the contrary, the commissioner of small business services shall, no later than sixty days prior to entering into any contract with a local development corporation or not-for-profit corporation of which the majority of its members are appointed by the mayor for the provision of services to assist the department in performing any of the functions set forth in subdivision 2 of section 1301 of the charter where such functions were previously performed by the former department of ports and trade, provide the council with a copy of such proposed contract, together with a statement explaining the reasons which justify contracting for such purposes. The commissioner shall be authorized to enter into such contract unless, within such sixty day period, the council enacts a local law prohibiting the commissioner from contracting for such purposes.

§ 5. This local law shall take effect immediately.

L.L. 2013/106

Enactment date: 12/2/2013

Int. No. 1011

By Council Members Wills, Chin, Comrie, Dickens, Eugene, James, Koppell, Lander, Mealy, Mendez, Nelson, Palma, Williams, Rodriguez, Mark-Viverito, Vacca, Gentile, Van Bramer, Barron, Brewer and Halloran

A Local Law in relation to renaming one thoroughfare in the Borough of Queens, Tuskegee Airmen Way, and to amend the official map of the city of New York accordingly.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. The following street name, in the Borough of Queens, is hereby renamed as hereafter indicated.

 

New Name	Present Name	Limits
Tuskegee Airmen Way	South Road	Between Merrick Boulevard and Remington Street

 

§ 2. The official map of the city of New York shall be amended in accordance with the provisions of section one of this local law.

§ 3. This local law shall take effect immediately.