407.931. Unlawful to sell or distribute tobacco products to minors--vending machine requirements--what persons are liable--owners exempt, when--appeal to administrative hearing commission, when.
Unlawful to sell or distribute tobacco products to minors--vendingmachine requirements--what persons are liable--owners exempt,when--appeal to administrative hearing commission, when.
407.931. 1. It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, provide ordistribute tobacco products to persons under eighteen years of age.
2. By January 1, 2002, all vending machines that dispense tobaccoproducts shall be located within the unobstructed line of sight and under thedirect supervision of an adult responsible for preventing persons less thaneighteen years of age from purchasing any tobacco product from such machine orshall be equipped with a lock-out device to prevent the machines from beingoperated until the person responsible for monitoring sales from the machinesdisables the lock. Such locking device shall be of a design that prevents itfrom being left in an unlocked condition and which will allow only a singlesale when activated. A locking device shall not be required on machines thatare located in areas where persons less than eighteen years of age are notpermitted or prohibited by law. An owner of an establishment whose vendingmachine is not in compliance with the provisions of this subsection shall besubject to the penalties contained in subsection 5 of this section. Adetermination of noncompliance may be made by a local law enforcement agencyor the division of liquor control. Nothing in this section shall apply to avending machine if located in a factory, private club or other location notgenerally accessible to the general public.
3. No person or entity shall sell, provide or distribute any tobaccoproduct or rolling papers to any minor, or sell any individual cigarettes toany person in this state. This subsection shall not apply to the distributionby family members on property that is not open to the public.
4. Any person including, but not limited to, a sales clerk, owner oroperator who violates subsection 1, 2 or 3 of this section or section 407.927shall be penalized as follows:
(1) For the first offense, twenty-five dollars;
(2) For the second offense, one hundred dollars;
(3) For a third and subsequent offense, two hundred fifty dollars.
5. Any owner of the establishment where tobacco products are availablefor sale who violates subsection 3 of this section, in addition to thepenalties established in subsection 4 of this section, shall be penalized inthe following manner:
(1) For the first violation per location within two years, a reprimandshall be issued by the division of liquor control;
(2) For the second violation per location within two years, the divisionof liquor control shall issue a citation prohibiting the outlet from sellingtobacco products for a twenty-four-hour period;
(3) For the third violation per location within two years, the divisionof liquor control shall issue a citation prohibiting the outlet from sellingtobacco products for a forty-eight-hour period;
(4) For the fourth and any subsequent violations per location within twoyears, the division of liquor control shall issue a citation prohibiting theoutlet from selling tobacco products for a five-day period.
6. Any owner of the establishment where tobacco products are availablefor sale who violates subsection 3 of this section shall not be penalizedpursuant to this section if such person documents the following:
(1) An in-house or other tobacco compliance employee training programwas in place to provide the employee with information on the state and federalregulations regarding tobacco sales to minors. Such training program must beattended by all employees who sell tobacco products to the general public;
(2) A signed statement by the employee stating that the employee hasbeen trained and understands the state laws and federal regulations regardingthe sale of tobacco to minors; and
(3) Such in-house or other tobacco compliance training meets the minimumtraining criteria, which shall not exceed a total of ninety minutes in length,established by the division of liquor control.
7. The exemption in subsection 6 of this section shall not apply to anyperson who is considered the general owner or operator of the outlet wheretobacco products are available for sale if:
(1) Four or more violations per location of subsection 3 of this sectionoccur within a one-year period; or
(2) Such person knowingly violates or knowingly allows his or heremployees to violate subsection 3 of this section.
8. If a sale is made by an employee of the owner of an establishment inviolation of sections 407.925 to 407.934, the employee shall be guilty of anoffense established in subsections 1, 2 and 3 of this section. If a vendingmachine is in violation of section 407.927, the owner of the establishmentshall be guilty of an offense established in subsections 3 and 4 of thissection. If a sample is distributed by an employee of a company conductingthe sampling, such employee shall be guilty of an offense established insubsections 3 and 4 of this section.
9. A person cited for selling, providing or distributing any tobaccoproduct to any individual less than eighteen years of age in violation ofsubsection 1, 2 or 3 of this section shall conclusively be presumed to havereasonably relied on proof of age of the purchaser or recipient, and suchperson shall not be found guilty of such violation if such person raises andproves as an affirmative defense that such individual presented a driver'slicense or other government-issued photo identification purporting toestablish that such individual was eighteen years of age or older.
10. Any person adversely affected by this section may file an appealwith the administrative hearing commission which shall be adjudicated pursuantto the procedures established in chapter 621, RSMo.
(L. 1992 S.B. 509, et al. §§ 8, 10, 12, A.L. 2001 H.B. 381)