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Colorado Grade Card

Population Covered:
5,758,736
Tobacco 21 Since:
June 14, 2020
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The Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation evaluated all current statewide Tobacco 21 laws for their alignment with best practices that lead to effective prevention of youth initiation of tobacco and nicotine products.

Best Practice:

Health Department or Designated Agency

Colorado Enforcement:

The Division of Liquor Enforcement is the designated enforcement agency

Best Practice:

Before distributing any tobacco product, the tobacco retailer or the tobacco retailer’s agent or employee shall verify that the purchaser is at least 21 years of age. Each tobacco retailer or tobacco retailer’s agent or employee shall examine the purchaser’s government-issued photographic identification if the purchaser appears to be under 30 years of age.

Colorado Enforcement:

Colorado requires age verification for purchase of any tobacco product

Best Practice:

The primary burden for sales to underage purchasers should fall on the retailer who is profiting from the sales of the product and not the purchaser or non-management employee.

Colorado Enforcement:

Colorado places the penalty on the retailer

Best Practice:
Provide authority for the state, county, or municipality to inspect tobacco retailers for compliance with MLSA 21 and a mandated minimum number of annual compliance checks. Model recommends two per year for every tobacco retail establishment.
Colorado Enforcement:

Colorado requires two compliance checks per retailer per year

Best Practice:
The designated agency shall conduct compliance checks by engaging persons between the ages of 18 and 20 to enter the tobacco retail establishment to attempt to purchase tobacco products.
Colorado Enforcement:

Decoy to be under the age of 21 with no specified minimum age

Best Practice:
A comprehensive tobacco retail license allows states and municipalities to regulate all tobacco retailers, fund enforcement programs, and create a penalty structure that suspends or revokes a license for retailers that continue to violate a MLSA 21 law.
Colorado Licensing:

Colorado has a statewide comprehensive Tobacco Retail License

Best Practice:
The fee for a tobacco retail sales license shall be set and used to cover the administrative cost for licensing administration, education and training, retail inspections, and unannounced compliance checks. The tobacco retail sales license fee should not exceed the cost of the regulatory program authorized beyond the statute/ordinance.
Colorado Licensing:

Colorado’s Tobacco Retail License fee structure is built to fully fund enforcement with option to increase fee amount up to $600 if statewide compliance drops below 90%

Best Practice:
An effective licensing system requires tobacco retailers to pay an annual license fee and allows it to be periodically adjusted. Fee must be adequate to cover License administration, education/training, and enforcement. An annual fee of lower than $300 is generally inadequate to fund a licensing program.
Colorado Licensing:

Colorado’s Tobacco Retail License fee will be enough to adequately enforce the program but will not exceed $400 and renews annually

Best Practice:

Establish a civil penalty structure for violations rather than a criminal penalty structure.

Colorado Penalties:

Colorado will place a civil penalty on a person who violates the sales age

Best Practice:

36 months

Colorado Penalties:

Colorado has a 24-month violation accrual period

Best Practice:

1st violation = $500
2nd violation = $750 and (7) day suspension
3rd violation = $1,000 and (30) day suspension
4th violation = $1000 and (3) year suspension

Colorado Penalties:

1st violation = $250-$500 fine

2nd violation = $500-$700 fine and at least 7-day prohibition on selling tobacco products

3rd violation = $750-$1,000 fine and at least 30-day prohibition on selling tobacco products

4th violation = $1,000-$1,500 fine and up to 3-year prohibition on selling tobacco products

The 4th violation prevents retailer from applying for a Tobacco Retail License for up to 3 years.

Best Practice:
An evidence-based, best practices tobacco MLSA 21 policy should focus penalties on the tobacco retailer who profits from the illegal sale rather than the youth who is likely addicted to the product. PUP laws may be unlikely to reduce youth smoking significantly.
Colorado Penalties:

Colorado’s law does not penalize youth for purchase, use, or possession (PUP) of tobacco products

Best Practice:

Local governments have a critical role in reducing the deadly toll of tobacco by regulating sales and restricting retailer access to youth for to these products to prevent use and addiction.
Tobacco 21 legislation should not introduce new tobacco control preemption, nor expand existing tobacco control preemption, and instead should be used as an opportunity to assert local authority or repeal existing tobacco control preemption.

Colorado Preemption:

Colorado law does not preempt local authority to pass more stringent tobacco control laws

Best Practice:

A comprehensive definition will cover all current, known tobacco and nicotine products, which include not only cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco, but also products like pipes, rolling papers, electronic smoking devices, and other related devices. A strong definition will also be broad enough to capture future products.

Colorado Definitions:

Colorado’s Tobacco 21 law includes comprehensive definitions