San Antonio City Council is set to vote today on the first controversial issue of the new year...whether to ban the sale of cigarettes to people under the age of 21, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Supporters say it would make it harder for 15 and 16 year olds, which is the most common age people start smoking, to get cigarettes, because most now simply ask their 18 year old high school buddies to buy them for them. But a 15 year old sophomore would be far less likely to hang around with a 21 year old.
But opposition to the proposal has been widespread.
Paul Hardin, who heads the Texas Food and Fuel Association, says the only people who would face charges under the proposal would be the convenience store owners. He points out that the 20 year old who buys a pack would not be criminally charged, nor would the 15 year old who receives the cigarettes. Only the retailer would face charges.
He points out that the Texas Legislature overwhelmingly rejected a similar bill in last year's session.
"The State of Texas and the Legislators said, we are not going to put this forward, this is not a good bill, it is not good government," he said.
And Hardin says the large retailers, the H-E-B's and Walmarts, wont be affected by this ordinance, because 20 year old will simply leave the city and go into Bexar County or into the suburbs to buy cigarettes. The big retailers have stores there too, but the convenience store operations generally own one store, and if that is inside the city limits, they will lose the sale, amounting to 3% of their annual sales.
Hardin says at the age of 18, the government trusts you to make many adult decisions.
"You can vote, you can go to war, you can die for your country, you can adopt a child, you can contract for a house," he said. "So why would the City of San Antonio, even after the state has said no, decide to regulate adulthood?"
Convenience store operators say their ranks are mainly made up of marginalized immigrants, many of them Muslims, and they don't want to hear any claims about 'equity' out of City Hall again, when the City passes a bill that will benefit the large retailers at their expense. Many said with all the fixed costs convenience stores have, a 3% drop in sales is the difference between hiring an employee and having to lay one off.
"Our you are going to have to not pay your bills," Hardin said.
Councilman Greg Brockhouse, who was he will vote against the bill, says he finds it interesting that last year, City Council refused to cut its own budget to give taxpayers a break, but now feels no hypocrisy at voting to cut the budget of hard working small business owners.
"Councilman Perry and I tried to lower the tax rate by $8 a month, and City Council almost had a coronary on budget vote day," he said. "But we want them to lose between three and four percent of their sales," he said.