Salinas City Council extends tobacco retail license moratorium for 10 more months.

Salinas City Council voted 7-0 on Tuesday, Aug. 4 to extend the urgency interim ordinance temporarily halting the issuance of tobacco retailer licenses for an additional 10 months and 15 days. 

This extension prolongs the moratorium from Aug. 14, 2026, to June 29, 2027.

Enacted on June 30, the original 45-day moratorium was aimed at allowing the city to scrutinize tobacco sales and their impact on communities, particularly around youth-centric areas such as schools, parks and recreation centers. 

“This will allow additional time to research and develop a comprehensive regulatory framework for issuance of tobacco retail licenses citywide,” said Ernesto Lizaola, assistant to the city manager.

The current ordinance does not affect existing licenses or license renewals, but prevents new tobacco retailer licenses from being issued during the moratorium.

The city has already engaged key stakeholders including the Monterey County Health Department, Monterey County Office of Education and local retail associations to collect insights and perspectives. These collaborations are expected to influence future policies restricting the proximity of tobacco retailers to youth-populated areas—a regulation currently absent in Salinas.

Salinas City Councilmember José Luis Barajas suggested more cities do the same. 

“We also should reach out to all the other cities in Monterey County to see if we would be interested in making it kind of like a coalition of being a tobacco-free community,” Barajas said. “So it's not just the City of Salinas. We still have other jurisdictions around us that may or may not be selling tobacco or issuing tobacco licenses.”