NEW YORK – Last week, the New York City Council passed legislation that further restricts access to tobacco products throughout the city. The legislation, introduced in April by Mayor Bill de Blasio and members of the council, will: 

• Raise the minimum price for a pack of cigarettes from $10.50 to $13, set minimum prices and minimum pack sizes for other tobacco products and set a 10% tax on tobacco products other than cigarettes.
• Prohibit the sale of all tobacco products in pharmacies.
• Cap the number of tobacco retailers in the city and cut the number in half through attrition.
• Require a retail license to sell electronic cigarettes and cap e-cigarette licenses in a similar way to other tobacco licenses.
• Increase the fee for tobacco retail licenses.
• Require residential buildings to establish smoking policies and disclose them to both current and prospective residents.

New York Daily News writes that nine council members voted against the bill to boost the cost of cigarettes, many citing concerns it would disproportionately burden low income New Yorkers.

A coalition of convenience and grocery stores, bodegas and newsstand operators slammed the bills:

“These measures will destroy the business investment of retailers who have been leading the effort to prevent youth access to tobacco products, and the result will be lost revenue, lost jobs and an increasing number of sales in unregulated and illegal settings,” Jim Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores, told the news source.