Monterey County officials restart tobacco retail licensing enforcement, plan six-month report

Monterey County officials on May 26 updated the Board of Supervisors on a renewed push to enforce local tobacco retail licensing rules, citing state changes, growing sales of flavored and intoxicating hemp products, and recent undercover buys that investigators say violated state law.

Public Health Program Supervisor Elaine Narciso told the board the departments will coordinate enforcement and outreach across jurisdictions that have adopted TRL ordinances; 11 of the county’s 13 jurisdictions now have TRL ordinances and the county is supporting enforcement for 10 of those, she said. Environmental Health supervising consumer protection inspector Armando Gonzalez reported that Environmental Health inspected 317 licensed tobacco retailers in fiscal 2024–25, 98 of them in unincorporated areas, and found 45 facilities with one or more violations (primarily sales of flavored tobacco, flavored hemp and other now-prohibited products). Gonzalez said…