An Act To Promote Equity in Business Opportunity for Tobacco Specialty Stores
Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §1542, sub-§2, ¶L, as amended by PL 2007, c. 180, §2, is further amended to read:
As used in this paragraph, "cigar lounge" means a business that:
(1) Is licensed as a tobacco specialty store;
(2) Occupies a total area of not more than 2,000 square feet; and
(3) Derived 60% or more of its gross revenue for the previous calendar year from the sale of tobacco-related products.
A cigar lounge may not sell cigarettes or allow the smoking of cigarettes and may not prepare food on premises for sale. A cigar lounge must provide notice to all applicants for employment and employees that working in a cigar lounge may cause serious negative health effects including an increased risk of cancer and heart disease and that no level of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is safe.
Smoking a waterpipe or hookah is prohibited in a tobacco specialty store that is first licensed or that requires a new license after January 1, 2007.
Sec. 2. 28-A MRSA §2, sub-§15, ¶B-3 is enacted to read:
Sec. 3. 28-A MRSA §1012, sub-§7 is enacted to read:
Sec. 4. 28-A MRSA §1080 is enacted to read:
§ 1080. Cigar lounge
The bureau may issue licenses under this section for the sale of spirits, wine and malt liquor to be consumed on the premises to cigar lounges as defined in section 2, subsection 15, paragraph B-3.
summary
This bill allows certain tobacco specialty stores to be licensed as a cigar lounge, which may serve nonalcoholic and alcoholic beverages. A cigar lounge may not sell cigarettes or prepare food on premises for sale. A tobacco specialty store that is a cigar lounge must provide notice about the dangers of environmental tobacco smoke to applicants for employment and employees. The cigar lounge license fee is $100.