Flavored tobacco ban returns to Kansas City's city council agenda after amendments

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A flavored tobacco ban is back on Kansas City’s city council agenda this week.

The ordinance was first considered four years ago, but failed to pass.

The ordinance returned in early October, was approved in committee and placed on the city council’s Oct. 10 docket, where it got pushed back to the committee’s agenda. At the time, Kansas City Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw said several council members had amendments they wanted to discuss and more research and feedback to collect.

The ordinance was amended on Tuesday to include a section detailing enforcement, and was again passed on to the city council for consideration.

The proposed ban would eliminate the sale of flavored tobacco, nicotine and vapor products in the city, create a license to sell tobacco products to identify retailers and require annual compliance checks to verify the products are no longer sold. There would also be a three-strike process for sellers who violate the ordinance.

Almost 400 cities and towns across the country have restricted flavored tobacco product sales. Kansas City would be the first city in Missouri and Kansas to pass such an ordinance.

Parks-Shaw spearheaded the ordinance four years ago with 3rd district councilmember Melissa Robinson as a co-sponsor. This time, Parks-Shaw is a sponsor of this ordinance without Robinson and has four other co-sponsors.

The ban is intended to curb tobacco use in teenagers, lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color, according to Parks-Shaw. Almost 18% of Kansas Citians smoke cigarettes, with 25% of smokers living east of Troost Avenue, according to a presentation from health department director Marvia Jones. Jones’s report also reported nicotine-dependent patients have longer and more expensive hospital stays than nicotine-independent patients.

“This is structural racism,” 4th district councilmember Eric Bunch said after the presentation. Bunch is a co-sponsor of the ordinance. “It’s the same story we see when we look at incomes and unemployment rates. And that’s why decisions like this are so important, and why I think many of us are here.”

The city collected $1.6 million in cigarette stamp taxes in the last fiscal year from businesses which sell cigarettes. The city’s finance department estimates half of the income is from flavored tobacco, but said revenue from that tax has decreased 5% each year over the past decade.

Kansas City could also lose between $1 million and $1.5 million in stamp and sales tax revenue. Vapes and non-cigarette products are exempt from the stamp tax.

Some business owners oppose the ban, saying it will cut into profits and tobacco users will just travel to different jurisdictions to buy the products.

The ordinance will be discussed in the city council meeting Thursday at 2 p.m.