§ 1007. Furnishing tobacco to persons under 21 years of age; report
(a) A person that sells or furnishes tobacco products, tobacco substitutes, or tobacco
paraphernalia to a person under 21 years of age shall be subject to a civil penalty
of not more than $100.00 for the first offense and not more than $500.00 for any subsequent
offense. An action under this section shall be brought in the same manner as for a
traffic violation pursuant to 23 V.S.A. chapter 24 and shall be brought within 24 hours of the occurrence of the alleged violation.
(b)(1) The Division of Liquor Control shall conduct or contract for compliance tests of tobacco
licensees as frequently and as comprehensively as necessary to ensure consistent statewide
compliance with the prohibition on sales to persons under 21 years of age of at least
90 percent for buyers who are between 17 and 20 years of age. An individual under
21 years of age participating in a compliance test shall not be in violation of section 1005 of this title.
(2) Any violation by a tobacco licensee of subsection 1003(a) of this title and this section after a sale violation or during a compliance test conducted within
six months of a previous violation shall be considered a multiple violation and shall
result in the minimum license suspension in addition to any other penalties available
under this title. Minimum license suspensions for multiple violations shall be assessed
as follows:
(A) two violations two weekdays;
(B) three violations 15-day suspension;
(C) four violations 90-day suspension;
(D) five violations one-year suspension.
(3) The Division shall report to the House Committee on General, Housing, and Military
Affairs, the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs,
and the Tobacco Evaluation and Review Board annually, on or before January 15, the
methodology and results of compliance tests conducted during the previous year. The
provisions of 2 V.S.A. § 20(d) (expiration of required reports) shall not apply to the required report to be made
under this subdivision. (Added 1991, No. 70, § 2; amended 1997, No. 58, § 6; 2013, No. 14, § 6; 2015, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2017, No. 83, § 137; 2018, No. 1 (Sp. Sess.), § 85; 2019, No. 27, § 5, eff. Sept. 1, 2019; 2019, No. 73, § 16.)