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9.32.190.6.1.) A person accused of a violation can request a hearing before the City's <br /> administrative hearing officer, with further appeal to the City Manager, whose decision <br /> would be final. (See proposed Section 9.32.180.) <br /> It is proposed that the administrative hearing officer and City Manager would have <br /> discretion to apply the settlement options of monetary fines and shorter-term <br /> suspensions instead of longer-term suspensions and revocation. (See proposed Section <br /> 9.32.190.C.) A settlement option might be appropriate, for example, if the business <br /> owner shows that a new retail clerk made an underage sale to a customer with a <br /> credible fake ID when the clerk did not correctly operate a new ID verification machine. <br /> Alameda County, Dublin and Livermore all have such alternative settlement options. <br /> Alternative: The Council may decide to not allow such alternative settlement <br /> options by directing the deletion of the proposed Section 9.32.190.C. <br /> In public testimony, Council was advised that when the county and state undertake <br /> undercover enforcement, if an underage sale is made, the retail clerk who made that <br /> sale is subject to a fine, and the business owner can also be penalized.' As seen in the <br /> table above, proposed penalties are focused on the permittee / business owner, and <br /> violations result in suspension of tobacco sales and permit revocation, or alternatively <br /> fines to be paid by the permittee / business owner. <br /> In terms of implementation, staff intends that the Community Development Department <br /> and Business License Division inform retailers of the permit requirement, and permit <br /> applications be processed by the Business License Division in consultation with the <br /> Community Development Department. The Community Development Department could <br /> make recommendations when not to issue or renew a permit (see proposed Sections <br /> 9.32.090 and 9.32.170.A.). For example: (i) if an applicant proposes a new tobacco <br /> store within 1,000 feet of a public school, that would be the basis to not issue a permit; <br /> or (ii) if a permittee did not have its state license renewed for the sale of tobacco <br /> products, that would be the basis to not renew a permit. The decision to not issue or not <br /> renew could be appealed to the City's administrative hearing officer, with further appeal <br /> to the City Manager, whose decision would be final. (See proposed Section 9.32.180.) <br /> Education would be a combination of the Business License and Code Enforcement <br /> Divisions. Code Enforcement would undertake compliance checks both on a complaint- <br /> Under the California STAKE Act(Cal. Business and Professions Code section 22952 et seq) penalties <br /> for sales to underage persons are as follows: <br /> First Violation: A civil penalty of$400 - $600 <br /> Second Violation (within a 5-year period): A civil penalty of$900 -$1,000 <br /> Third Violation (within a 5-year period): $1,200 - $1,800, plus a 45-day suspension of the license <br /> Fourth Violation (within a 5-year period): $3,000 - $4,000, plus a 90-day suspension of the license <br /> Fifth Violation (within a 5-year period): $5,000 - $6,000, plus a revocation of the license <br /> Additional civil penalties in the amount of$250 each for the third, fourth, and fifth violations are assessed <br /> by the California Department of Taxes and Fees Administration (CDTFA). The CDTFA may also suspend <br /> or revoke the retailer's license with 10 days' notice. Furthermore, a person cannot be subject to both <br /> STAKE Act penalties and Penal Code section 308(b) penalties for the same violation. <br /> 5 <br />