Modesto council introduces smoke‑shop rules, approves permit fees after months of police enforcement

Modesto on Tuesday introduced a new ordinance to regulate smoke shops and approved an annual permit fee as the City Council responded to months of police inspections that uncovered illegal tobacco and other illicit sales.

City Attorney Sanchez and Police Chief Brandon Gillespie told the council the change is aimed at businesses the city says have become frequent sites of illegal activity. "These inspections uncovered the illegal sale of flavored tobacco, marijuana, cannabis‑based products, psilocybin mushrooms and gambling machines," Chief Gillespie said during the staff presentation. "Across both inspections, a total 16 arrests were made," he said, summarizing prior enforcement work that the department said continued through spring and summer 2025.

Why it matters: Council members and many public speakers said the ordinance is intended to reduce youth access to flavored and emerging tobacco products and to give law enforcement tools to act on repeated violations. Dozens of residents, students, health advocates and neighborhood leaders urged the city to go further and adopt a comprehensive tobacco‑retail licensing (TRL) program that would cover all sellers of tobacco products, including convenience stores and liquor stores, not only specialty smoke shops.

Key provisions and requirements

- Permit requirement: All smoke shops — defined in the ordinance as retail establishments where 15% of floor area or 15 linear feet of display is used for tobacco or tobacco paraphernalia — must obtain a city smoke‑shop permit. Existing smoke shops that held a business license…