Tobacco products: individuals under 21 years of age.

Existing law, the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement (STAKE) Act, prohibits a person from selling or otherwise furnishing tobacco products, as defined, to a person under 21 years of age. The STAKE Act requires a person engaged in the retail sale of tobacco products to check the identification of a tobacco purchaser to establish the purchaser's age if the purchaser reasonably appears to be under 21 years of age. Among other provisions, the act requires the State Department of Public Health to establish and develop a program to reduce the availability of tobacco products to persons under 21 years of age through various enforcement activities. The act also authorizes enforcing agencies, as defined, to assess specified civil penalties for the furnishing of tobacco products to a person under 21 years of age, but makes these penalties inapplicable if the person being furnished the product is active duty military personnel who is 18 years of age or older. This bill would expressly authorize a city, county, or city and county to adopt an ordinance prohibiting a person under 21 years of age from possessing any tobacco cigarette or other tobacco product. The penalty under the ordinance would be the issuance of an administrative citation requiring the person to participate in an antismoking educational program. The bill would additionally authorize the ordinance to require the confiscation of a tobacco product from a person under 18 years of age, as specified. The bill's prohibitions would not apply with respect to active duty military personnel who are 18 years of age or older.