Existing law, the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003, requires the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to issue a license to a retailer to engage in the sale of cigarettes or tobacco products upon receipt of a completed application and payment of certain fees unless any of certain exceptions apply. Existing law subjects licenses issued by the act to suspension or revocation for specified violations.

Existing law prohibits a person from dispensing or distributing nitrous oxide to a person if the distributor knows or should know that the person is going to use the nitrous oxide for certain unlawful purposes and that person proximately causes great bodily injury or death to that person or another person. Existing law also requires a person who dispenses or distributes nitrous oxide to record each transaction involving the dispensing or distribution of nitrous oxide in a written or electronic document, as specified. Existing law makes a violation of either of these provisions a misdemeanor.

This bill would require a court to order the suspension, for up to one year, of the business license of a person who knowingly violates either of those provisions after having been previously convicted of a violation of the respective provision, except as specified.

This bill would specify violations subjecting licenses to suspension or revocation include, among others, the crimes above, as specified. The bill would exempt from the license issuance requirement the issuance of a license to a retailer who has been convicted of specified crimes relating to the distribution of nitrous oxide, including the misdemeanors described above.