Senate may increase
fines for tobacco
sales to minors

First offenses would carry a $500 fine
for the seller, $100 for the buyer

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

There are two reasons why there is little enforcement against illegal cigarette sales to minors, according to Honolulu police Capt. Louis Marrero.

First, police find it hard to catch these purchases in the act without conducting a sting with undercover teen-agers, which takes time to organize, he said.

Second, beat officers don't have the authority to issue citations directly to businesses that sell to minors, and are reluctant to leave their beats to get the Family Court to issue the citations.

Marrero and others favor a House measure in the Senate that would sharply increase fines and penalties for both the buyer and seller of tobacco products to those under the age of 18.

"The increase in fines should make these businesses more aware of their responsibilities and decrease the number of violations," Marrero told the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday.

Currently, sellers who violate the law face a $100 fine for the first offense; minors face a $10 fine.

House Bill 2846, HD 1, would increase mandatory fines for sellers to $500 for the first offense, and between $500 and $2,000 for subsequent violations.

Minors caught purchasing cigarettes would be fined $100 for the first offense, and $200 or community service for subsequent offenses. The committee will vote on the measure Friday.

Clifford Chang, director of the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii, told Co-chairmen Matt Matsunaga (D, Kahala-Palolo) and Avery B. Chumbley (D, East Maui-North Kauai) that state statistics show 28 percent of Hawaii's high school seniors and 25 percent of 10th-graders are regular smokers.

More discouraging is that 25 percent of Hawaii's eighth-graders also reported being regular smokers, as did 11 percent of the sixth-graders, figures that will be a tremendous challenge to change, he said.

Chang said imposing stiffer fines is an "instrumental component" in reducing youth tobacco use and ensuring merchants comply with the law.

The state Health Department reports minors nationwide smoke an estimated 516 million packs of cigarettes a year, with half of these packs illegally sold.

Local inspections show minors were able to buy cigarettes from retail stores more than 20 percent of the time, said Larry Miike, state health director.

"Presently, too many merchants are not aware of the statute, do not ask for proper identification, do not have the required signage and may not consider the fines a significant deterrent," Miike said in written testimony.

Still, the state Office of the Public Defender believes creating stiffer fines for minors doesn't place the focus on the real culprits: those who sell tobacco to minors.

"The parents have to pay for it," testified Deputy Public Defender Ronette M. Kawakami, who favors a Senate bill that increases penalties only to sellers. "It doesn't teach the child anything."