On Sept. 13, Chula Vista City Council unanimously approved an ordinance amending the Municipal Code, chapter 5.56, Tobacco Retailer, to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products within the city limits. As a first reading, if this ordinance is approved, it would take effect Jan.1, 2023. The second reading and final approval is set for the Sept. 27 City Council meeting.
On Feb. 3, 2020, the Healthy Chula Vista Advisory Commission considered further amendments to the municipal code, and on Feb. 25, 2020, City Council considered the first reading asking staff to collect additional data in identifying the types of stores selling tobacco products and their proximity to schools, parks, verify where Chula Vista youth are accessing these products.
Since then, staff has collected additional data.
Staff found that 32% of retailers selling tobacco/vaping products were gas stations and convenience stores, and 32 out of 122 retailers are located within 500 feet of a school or a park,
In March and April of 2021, in collaboration with faculty at the Sweetwater Union High School District, staff conducted a survey of students, grades 9-12, to gather local data on usage and access to vaping devices. At 14 different schools, 2,404 students responded to the survey. Nearly 35% indicated they tried an e-cigarette/vape device, and out of all tobacco products, e-cigarettes and vapes accounted for 54% of use. Twenty percent of those students said they got their vape products from convenience stores and gas stations, with vape shops following at 22%, 18% online, and 40% through family and friends.
In August 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 793, but on Aug. 31, 2021, a proposed referendum was submitted to the Attorney General of California and on Jan. 22, 2021, it qualified for the ballot, putting SB793 on hold until the November 2022 elections. Staff said that with the unknown outcome of the statewide prohibition, that Chula Vista should join other cities and the county in banning flavored tobacco in the city of Chula Vista.
During public comment, most spoke in favor of the ban, and those in opposition were mostly owners of retail/tobacco stores.
Riley, a recent graduate from USD said she has been a student through the emergence and current state of the vaping epidemic. She said she was a sophomore in high school when vaping became popular.
“Kids would smoke pods in school bathrooms, trading mint for mango, cucumber for cream. Teachers made new roles as these vapes rampaged through our school as bathroom supervisors. In these years however, none of my peers never smoked menthol pods, and none ever bragged about smoking cigarettes. Those tasted to gross to be cool. From a young age, my generation was educated on the dangers that surrounded cigarettes…but we were never warned about the dangers that surrounded the bright colored and kid-friendly flavored vapes that plagued our school campuses. My generation was taught that e-cigarettes were safer and healthier than regular cigarettes,” she said.
It was a consensus for those in favor of the ban that the tobacco industry was targeting children with packaging, and the flavors of vapes.
Neighborhood Market Association Director of Government & Public Relations Arkan Somo urged Council not to vote on this ordinance as it is so close to election time, that the people of California, and Chula Vista will have the right to vote, and then if approved, then guidelines would be set at the state level. He also said that if the city passes the ordinance, it will hurt local businesses financially. He said that staff reached out to the students and schools but did not reach out to the businesses to see what effect the ordinance would have on them.
“Two years ago, we did not know the impact of the County ordinance,” he said. “If they would have reached out to the business community, they would tell them because they have family members and friends that have stores in the unincorporated areas. They have been devastated.”
Somo said sales for retailers in unincorporated areas have gone down 50%.
Mayor Mary Casillas Salas, and council members Steve Padilla and John McCann all were in favor of the ban, and each one of them told personal stories on how tobacco had hurt or been the source of death in their families.
Salas said that youth may find other ways to obtain vape materials, through Tijuana, online, or going to other areas to purchase them, but she did not want Chula Vista to be “complicit” when it comes to taking a stance against big tobacco.
“We always say making public safety is our number one priority. Public safety means kid’s safety too. Making them a number one priority. Making sure that his product is as inaccessible as possible as we can,” she said.
