Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending and restating Sections 5.81.010 and 5.81.070; and by repealing Chapter 5.94, all relating to the sale of flavored tobacco products, read and adopted as read.  (Citywide)
Thank you. I think we have one more item here. Item 29, please. Item 29 is communication from City Attorney. Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code relating to the sale of certain flavored tobacco products within the city of Long Beach. Read the first time and lead over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for Final Reading Citywide. Thank you. Moved by Councilmember Price and second by Councilman Ranga. Councilmember Price is. You want to speak to this? Yes. Thank you. Our office has been working with the city attorney's office on amending some of the language. So if I can please have the city attorney's office share with us the latest update on the proposed language change. Good evening, council members. This is Taylor with the city attorney's office. It was brought to our attention that some other jurisdictions have faced legal challenges regarding some of the language that had been included in the ordinance. So to avoid similar legal challenges. Our office is recommending the following changes and to adopt the ordinance as amended on the floor in section 5.81.010.8 on page six, lines 21 through 22. Strike characterizing flavor includes flavor in any form mixed with or otherwise added to any tobacco product comma, including electronic cigaret. In Section 5.81. 010s on page ten at lines 15 through 17. Strike Tobacco Product Flavor Enhancer means a product designed, manufactured, produced, marketed or sold to produce a characterizing flavor when added to a tobacco product in section 5.81. 070f on page 11 at line 22, amend the phrase to offer for sale, to read, to sell in section 5.81. 070f on page 11 at lines 23 through 24 strike or a tobacco product flavor enhancer in section 5.81. 070f3 on page 13 at line five, strike or Tobacco Product Flavor Enhancer. And finally in section 5.8, 1.07.4 on page 13 at line eight, strike comma, including tobacco, product flavor enhancers and were available for any other questions that you may have. Thank you. Councilman Ringa. No comment other than I know that our Department of Health and Human Services is very much on top of this as well. So I'm looking forward to that. There are monitoring this is monitoring our our response. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Austin. I support. I signed on to the motion, but I'm full support of this with the better enough. Thank you. Was there any public comment on this item? Yes. Our first speaker is Isabella Carroll. Hello and good evening, Honorable Mayor and mayors of the City Council. My name is Othello Carol. I live in District five. I'm also a volunteer ambassador for American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. I applaud the city for taking steps to protect our youth from the dangers of flavored tobacco products. As a mother and a grandmother, I am deeply concerned about the dramatic increase of e-cigarette using usage among our youth. And it is unconscionable that tobacco products are the number one cause of premature death in the United States because it's so preventable. I strongly believe that protecting our youth from tobacco initiation and addiction is one of the most important public health actions policymakers can take. Flavored tobacco products are driving this unprecedented increase in the usage. So in closing, I respectfully urge you to pass a strong ordinance to permanently end the sale of all flavored tobacco products without exemptions. Exemptions for any product will weaken the ordinance, creating loopholes for young people to access flavored tobacco products that can lead to a lifetime of tobacco addiction. Thank you, everyone, for your time. Thank you. Our next speaker is Annie Hagan. Hello. This is Annie Pagan with Tobacco-Free Kids. Good evening, mayor and city council members. We are in strong support of ending the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and all flavored tobacco products. These sweet and minty products are aimed to lure kids with candy flavors and hook them for the long term. Ending their sale is a critical step that will protect Long Beach kids from the unrelenting efforts of the tobacco industry. Took them to a deadly addiction, and the tobacco industry would like nothing more than to scare the city council into believing this is a more more complicated than it is. This is a commonsense solution. The policy simply removes the flavored products that are most attractive to kids while leaving unflavored products on the shelves. It's a fair solution that will protect our kids and vulnerable populations. By passing this ordinance, Long Beach would join over 60 and maybe 70 now cities in California that have passed similar ordinances. So I thank you, each of you, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart for sticking up for Long Beach kids, even in the face of industry pressure. Thank you so much. Think your next speaker is Alexa warming. Good evening, Mayor Garcia and council members. My name is Alexa Warman. I'm with the American Heart Association. I'm here tonight to support a strong policy to protect Long Beach kids from tobacco addiction, disease and death. Ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products is key to reducing youth tobacco access and youth sweet kid friendly flavors like mango , mint, menthol and cotton candy mask. The harshness of tobacco products make them seem safer and are highly appealing to youth. In fact, over 80% of kids who use tobacco started with a flavored product. The tobacco industry knows this and uses this information to target children. The industry has even called high school students their, quote, replacement customer customers. This is unacceptable and cannot continue. All flavored tobacco products, including flavored e-cigarettes, menthol cigarets, flavored hookah, cigars and smokeless tobacco are hooking kids into nicotine addiction. We need your help to reduce access to these deadly products at the retail level with your commitment to a strong flavored tobacco policy. Long Beach can better support our youth and overall community well-being. Please put our kids health over tobacco profits. Inc. Your next speaker is David Ross. Very. Good evening there, Garcia and city council members. My name is David Ross. I've been a Long Beach resident for about 40 years. I'm also a volunteer for the American Heart Association and was the chair of their board of directors. The American Heart Association supports ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products as an evidence based policy to reduce youth tobacco use. It's clear that the tobacco industry is actively and aggressively working to addict new customers, using flavors to target youth, people of color and the LGBTQ community into a lifetime of nicotine addiction. So e-cigarettes are the most common tobacco product used by middle and high school students. Kids are also using flavored cigars, cigarets hookahs and chewing tobacco at alarming rates. All flavored tobacco products are appealing to kids. They're highly addictive and they are deadly. Both of my parents started smoking in high school. Both my parents were killed by tobacco. My mother at age 61 and my father when he was only 47. We need bold action to prevent a new generation of nicotine addiction, disease and death. I urge the Council the health of our kids and families first by ending the sale of flavored tobacco products here in Long Beach. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Ed Sanders. If evening council members know that. My name is Ed Sanders with the Coalition of Los Angeles Families Fighting Flavor and Tobacco. I would like to urge you to enact this ordinance that ends the sale of flavored tobacco, including menthol flavored cigarets as well. I think you've heard from other speakers the obvious threat to young people is clear. I know you will hear from opposition that ask you to look at how this impacts businesses. But I think it's important to point out how we as a community need businesses that could products that benefit the health of a community. And when we're looking at flavored tobacco, this is a product that is high in nicotine. It's addictive and it leads to poor health. It is, you know, still the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. Flavored tobacco is used to entice new customers to this product. And then when you start looking at menthol in a more insidious way, it's targeted at vulnerable communities, particularly the African-American community. I think you, as a legislative body can take strong action. I think you've heard how over 60 to 70 municipalities throughout California have already acted. This is a growing movement, but it is a growing movement that says that. Thank you. Our next speakers, Eric Bache. Good evening, Mayor Garcia and city council members. Again, my name is Eric Batts from the vice president of advocacy for the American Heart Association. And I you know, I really just wanted to call in tonight and applaud you all for considering taking this action. You know, the national dialog right now has focused on holding those accountable who abuse and harm our communities, and that includes big tobacco. I had a chance to read the article that was in the Press Telegram today by the Circle K owner. And I got to say, I couldn't believe that the author would say that this policy would make it difficult for businesses to survive. I mean, what about Long Beach residents? I mean, should we not consider measures that will help Long Beach residents survive and really thrive for that matter? Selling flavored tobacco. It's not an honorable endeavor, and it certainly doesn't contribute to the health of Long Beach. The bottom line is that flavored tobacco products attract youth, nicotine addicts them. And when you put flavored tobacco together with nicotine, you know you're setting our youth up for a lifetime of addiction and health problems. Tobacco use contributes to more deaths and disease than any other product. And menthol is the deadliest of all tobacco products. So during a time when we're all being asked to do what we can to protect the health of our communities from COVID, you know, we can also keep our community safe and healthy by restricting the sale of all flavored tobacco products. You know, every day that goes by without this policy, another Long Beach child can start a lifetime of nicotine addiction. So making it harder for Long Beach youth to get their hands on these products the right thing to do. And I respectfully ask. Thank. Think your next speaker is Jakarta Robinson. Our next speaker is John Kindred. Keep up the. Good evening. Mayor and city council members. My name is John Kendrick. I live on the borderline of District One into an area that is most populated by the damage. Health wise, environmental wise, on this on these products, as you heard to everybody else. And the tobacco company has never showed any data to back up their claims. Well, while the Long Beach Health Department. And I keeping. The CDC and the World Health Organization has shown countless times and data how dangerous these new tobacco products are and the damage it does to communities of color of our children. And it also goes against the city's. Mission and vision when it comes to addressing the community's health as best. If anybody reads your mission statement, what it says also to what nobody says when he said that is it's also a health problem, environmental problem. When you look at the cities cap the city's climate action and that action plan, when it comes to climate change and air pollution, this is one of the deadliest things we talk about planting trees all the time. I think your next speaker is Laurie Bremner. Good evening. My name is Laurie Bremner and I work with peers, which is parents against vaping e-cigarettes. PAVE has found and run and powered by volunteers. I'm the grassroots coordinator, but I'm speaking to you tonight. Also from my heart as a parent and a cancer survivor and a daughter who lost her dad to tobacco related illness. He was grateful that the city council is focusing on this urgent piece of legislation. YouTube are 5 to 7 times more likely to develop COVID. Than those who. Do not vape flavored tobacco is now more than ever a deadly hook. The use of Long Beach simply cannot wait for the state or the federal government to take action to protect them. The California State Bill 783, has been delayed by a big tobacco funded referendum for a year or two. And that's why we urge you to immediately end the sale of all flavored tobacco products with no exemptions. SB 793 provides a floor but not a ceiling for a local ordinance. You can and. Should go. Further. Please remove the exemptions. Parents and kids are counting on you, their local elected. Officials, to. Step in and halt the epidemic of youth tobacco use. The need is urgent for you to place the health of kids lungs. Above some. Small portion of a retailer's profit that comes from flavored tobacco. We urge you to take decisive action to do for the kids of Long Beach. Please remove the exemptions. Pass a comprehensive ordinance. Thank you. Our next speaker is Primo Castro. Dear Mayor Garcia and City Council. My name is Premal Castro, government relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, and also committed to protecting the health and well-being of residents in the city of Long Beach, use evidence based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. As such, we're here tonight to urge this council to pass this ordinance to end the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarets. Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death in our country, and sadly, sadly, greater than, you know, greater than 90% of adult smokers began smoking before the age of 21. Actions taken now at the local level can help to encourage a generation of Tobacco-Free Kids, potentially saving them from a lifetime of addiction and the deadly consequences of tobacco use and in the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol, is not only a health issue, it is also a social justice issue. Targeting marketing to communities of color, low income communities and the LGBT communities adds to the health disparities in populations already impacted by social inequities. Atheist Kent urges this council to pass this order and the ordinance as amended, prohibiting the sale of bob flavored tobacco products without exemptions removes so much of the allure of these products and is a key component of a comprehensive strategy to effectively help reduce tobacco. Thank you. Our next speaker is Gina Rodriguez. Good evening. Mayor Garcia and city council members. My name is Jeanette Rodriguez and I work at the University of Southern California Institute of Prevention Research at the Keck School of Medicine. I would like to share some research findings from the U.S. Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science. Our center has been following student cohorts for many years, and the trends in tobacco use over time have shown that youth with no history of cigaret use and those who are unlikely to have smoked cigarets are starting with e-cigarettes. And the most common reason for starting is the availability of a wide variety of flavors. This includes mint and menthol. The majority of youth reported that they would no longer use e-cigarettes if flavors were not available. It main research point I would like to highlight is that we found that a strong, comprehensive ordinance to regulate e-cigarettes flavored and mental tobacco products has a tremendous potential to substantially reduce youth use of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. Our research study shows that a strong, comprehensive tobacco retail license preventing sales to minors was associated with lower rates of youth and adult initiation of combustible tobacco and e-cigarette use. Our current research suggests that it is important to consider the overall impact of e-cigarettes and tobacco use on all segments of the population. However, the weight of the evidence points to a far more detrimental effect on youth. We hope that this research can educate and inform your decision. Please let me know if you have any questions our team may be able to answer. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Thank you, members, please. Let's go ahead and have a roll call vote. Thanks. Councilwoman Sandy has. I'm Councilwoman Allen. I can tell I'm in Price Pryce. I. Councilman. So, Boehner. I can swim in Mongo. I can swim in sorrow. I Council member Oranga. I. Councilman Austin. I. Vice Mayor Richardson. All right. Bush and Kerry.