A new tobacco retailer’s ordinance in Morgan Hill helped give the city an “A” in the 2013-14 Community’s Health on Tobacco Report Card, while Gilroy received a grade of “D” due to budget constraints that continue to limit efforts to prevent youth from smoking, according to Santa Clara County staff.
The Tobacco Free Coalition of Santa Clara County and Community Advocate Teens of Today, in partnership with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department released the results of the 2013-14 Community’s Health on Tobacco Report Card at a news conference June 26 in Morgan Hill.
The purpose of the tobacco report card is to reduce youth access and exposure to tobacco by providing recommendations to cities on how to reach that goal, according to county staff.
“We commend each city and enforcement staff in Santa Clara County for their continued work in keeping our youth safe from tobacco products,” said Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Mike Wasserman, who represents District 1 which includes South County. “Keeping tobacco away from youth can ultimately help prevent the devastating harm to health and addiction that so often results from tobacco use.”
The report card grades each city in the areas of enforcement of tobacco sales laws (particularly to minors), retailer compliance with tobacco laws and the strength of policies to prevent youth access to tobacco products.
The city of Morgan Hill not only received a grade of “A,” but won more points than any other city in the scoring process with 11 points, according to county staff.
The county itself received an “A,” as did the cities of Campbell, Mountain View, San Jose, Milpitas and Saratoga, county staff said. Other cities in the county received a “B,” except for Gilroy which received a “D.”
Helping Morgan Hill tally up the points was the implementation earlier this year of a local tobacco retailer’s licensing ordinance, which funds decoy operations to enforce youth tobacco sales laws, county staff said. The city’s ordinance includes electronic smoking device retailers.
“Having a tobacco retail license in our City gives us the authority to effectively enforce tobacco laws, including holding retailers responsible for illegal tobacco sales to minors,” said City of Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate.
Morgan Hill Police Chief David Swing added, “Making sure we are enforcing laws against the sale of tobacco to minors is a crucial step in creating a healthy community.”
The city of Gilroy, facing “severe budget constraints,” was unable to complete the report card’s preferred number of decoy operations to nab underage tobacco peddlers, according to county staff.
The city recently accepted a $25,000 grant from the county’s public health department with three conditions: the city take action to help reduce youth access to tobacco, curb the prevalence of secondhand smoke and increase the availability of healthy foods and beverages.
However, the city council on June 16 balked at the idea of charging tobacco retailers up to $450 to acquire a local license. The city will continue to develop a work plan to meet the objectives required by the grant.
