Redding’s Tobacco Retail Ordinance is ready in principle, but a hiring freeze has delayed the staffing needed to put its licensing and enforcement program fully into operation, city staff told the Redding City Council on Oct. 20.
Jeremy Pagan, the city’s director of development services, said the city had advertised and interviewed candidates in late 2025 before halting recruitment because of the hiring freeze. The permitting and licensing software has been configured to accept applications, collect fees and issue licenses online or in person, he said. Watch the Oct. 20 Redding City Council meeting.
Pagan estimated that standing up the program could take six to 12 months because more than 100 businesses would need to sign up, apply for licenses and receive them. The license fee is $1,200, and he said the city would need time for letters and outreach to retailers.
The ordinance reinforces state restrictions on flavored tobacco and sales to people under 21, according to the staff presentation, and prohibits new tobacco retailers within 600 feet of K-12 schools. The school buffer is a local requirement, Pagan said.
Residents, high school students and tobacco-prevention advocates told the council they wanted the city to move more quickly. Speakers described concerns about young people’s access to vaping and tobacco products and called for meaningful consequences when retailers violate tobacco laws. Those comments were public testimony; the meeting record does not establish how many violations have occurred in Redding or whether the city has issued licenses or taken enforcement action under the ordinance.
The city has not yet publicly provided, in the material reviewed for this story, a current enforcement staffing plan, the number of vacancies or a date for the first licensing milestone.
