Three years after a previous attempt was vetoed, Denver’s City Council late last year overwhelmingly passed an ordinance banning the sale of flavored tobacco within city limits.
In March, opponents of the ban gathered enough signatures to put its fate on the ballot. In the Nov. 4 election, Denverites will vote on Referendum 310, which will determine whether the city can begin enforcing the ban early next year, as planned, or if it’s repealed in its entirety.
What would 310 do if passed?
If approved by voters, Referendum 310 would reaffirm the city ordinance that banned flavor tobacco sales in the city. If 310 fails, the ordinance will be repealed — without ever having been enforced — when the election is certified, likely by the third week of November.
To be clear, since the referendum is phrased as a question of whether to keep the ordinance, a “yes” vote means support for the ban. A “no” vote means opposition — and a vote to repeal it.
What does the ordinance say?
The ordinance passed by the council makes it illegal to “sell, offer for sale, give, barter, deliver or furnish” flavored tobacco products in Denver. That applies to e-cigarettes, tobacco vape pens and other products that provide “a cooling” or “numbing sensation, taste or smell other than the taste or smell of tobacco” — including smells or tastes similar to fruits, mint, menthol, chocolates or other candies, desserts, herbs, spices or alcoholic drinks.
The ordinance covers menthol cigarettes, a product long marketed to Black customers. The ordinance does not apply to hookah tobacco.
Any shop that violates the ordinance will be given a warning upon the first offense. But if the shop gets a second violation in 2026, they will be blocked from selling tobacco products for 30 days. A third violation within the year prompts a 60-day suspension, and a fourth violation nets a yearlong timeout.
Starting in 2027, two violations within two years will earn a 30-day suspension; three within two years will result in a 60-day hit; and four within two years will mean a 12-month suspension. Starting in 2028, the multiple-violation window expands from two years to three.
The ordinance does not make it illegal for people to possess flavored tobacco products in Denver — so long as they’re old enough to buy them in the first place.
What do supporters say?
Supporters of the ban, including council members and public health officials, have argued that flavored nicotine products are targeted at young people. They’ve framed the ordinance as a public health measure intended to curb the use of an addictive substance, particularly among younger Denverites.
What do opponents say?
Owners of tobacco shops, as well as representatives from the larger tobacco industry, contend that the ban will hurt small businesses and that local workers will lose their jobs should the ordinance be enforced. Denver customers will be able to visit stores in neighboring cities that sell flavored products, they point out.
Critics also argue that adults are capable of deciding for themselves whether to use the products and that the city should instead focus on ensuring that kids and underage buyers don’t buy nicotine in the first place.
Would the ban affect the city’s finances?
Opponents of the ban have argued that it will lower tax revenues and hurt the city’s coffers. But city officials say that it’s unclear if that’s true and, if it is, how severe the impact will be.
In the city’s official ballot guide, city officials anticipated that the city “may experience” a decline in sales tax revenue if 310 passed — and the ordinance stood — but they couldn’t provide a specific projection of what that impact might be. They wrote that it was “impossible to accurately isolate the share of flavored tobacco products within overall city sales tax collections.”
How much has been raised by campaigns?
More than $2.48 million had been raised on both sides of the Referendum 310 fight as of Oct. 8, according to the city’s campaign finance system. Most of that money came from a $1.5 million check to the group supporting the ban, given by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, a prominent left-of-center donor and the former mayor of New York City.
With Bloomberg’s donation and contributions by health advocates, the pro-310 campaign has raised more than $2 million, compared to nearly $469,000 raised by the group opposing the ban. Its support has included a vaping industry trade association and tobacco companies.
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