Nicotine retailers would need licenses and follow sales rules

Retailers must obtain a license from the Department of Revenue to sell nicotine products. A separate application and license are required for each retail location and for each vending machine that sells nicotine products. Applications must include contact, location, legal-violation, and other required information. The fee is $300 when nicotine products are expected to provide at least half of the location's yearly gross income, and $200 otherwise. Each covered vending machine has a $100 fee. The department must deny an application for false information, an applicant under 21, unpaid applicable taxes, or certain felony convictions unless at least three years have passed since the sentence or probation ended. A license runs through December 31 after it is issued unless revoked sooner; renewal may be requested during the 60 days before expiration or within three days after expiration.

Licensed sellers may not sell nicotine products to people under 21, provide free samples, use most remote or third-party sales methods, or sell products with gaming features. The rules cover nicotine products, including tobacco, vapor products, and certain noncombustible nicotine or nicotine-analog products sold at retail. Shipping and remote sales remain allowed only where another cited state law permits them. Vending machine sales are allowed only under the separate vending-machine rules. Sellers may buy nicotine products only from licensed distributors or wholesalers. Products must be sold in unopened packages with federally required warning labels. The provisions apply beginning January 1, 2027.

Licensees must keep detailed nicotine-product records, and the Department of Revenue may inspect records and premises and impose fines or license penalties for violations. The recordkeeping duties apply to licensees, including retailers responsible for products in their vending machines; host establishments are generally excluded from those duties when they only house a machine. Records must identify the products, suppliers, origins, manufacturers, and purchase invoices and must be kept for three years. The secretary may excuse an unintentional recordkeeping error from being treated as a violation. Fines range from $500 for a first violation to $5,500 for a fourth violation within 36 months; later violations may also suspend or revoke a license. A retailer whose license is revoked must destroy or return its nicotine products and verify that action. A fine is due within 30 days after notice, and revoked retailers have 60 days to destroy or return their products.