On September 17, 2026, an important new ordinance sponsored by Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson was enacted in Philadelphia in the battle against the proliferation of illegal smoke shops.
The legislation addresses a longstanding problem. As illegal smoke shops sprout up, get shut down, move, and morph—just to reopen and start the cycle again—landlords have had no responsibility or consequences for leasing to these shops. The building owners are an especially effective target to stop this incessant game of whack-a-mole happening on their properties.
The legislation creates a new section of Title 9, Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions. If a landlord knowingly leases to a business engaging in tobacco sales without a Tobacco Retailer Permit, the landlord is subject to a penalty of $2,000 per day. Knowledge is established when the landlord gets copied on an L&I violation to the tenant. The law relieves the landlord of penalties if they have begun eviction proceedings against the tenant.
Thank you, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson, for taking this substantial step in curtailing the harms that these illegal shops have created.
The ordinance becomes effective 90 days after enactment (mid-December 2026).
