The grandfather clause in statute or zoning ordinances permits a business or landowner to request an exemption from restrictions on how the land is used, so long as it continues to be used as it was when the zoning ordinance was adopted.įor example, if the city of Chicago enacts a zoning ordinance that prohibits retails businesses in a certain area, a grandfather clause may allow retail stores already operating in the area to remain. Grandfather clauses are commonly used in creating new zoning ordinances and city or state statutes. Grandfather Clause in Statutes or Zoning Ordinances In either case, the exemption would not apply to a new owner, if the business was sold. This is done by exempting such entities from compliance for a limited time period, or revoking the exemption in the event the entity, such as a factory, expands or remodels. Limitations to the grandfather clause form the basis for being able to compromise in passing new legislation and regulations without creating a financially difficult situation for existing entities. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed the use of poll taxes in any election, and ensured the rights of every American citizen to vote. After the ruling, many poor Southern white people were able to vote, but the majority of blacks continued to be unable to vote. Eventually, these clauses, as they applied to the right to vote, were determined to be unconstitutional in the U.S. Some states offered an exemption to this prohibition to individuals whose ancestors, or “grandfathers,” had the right to vote prior to a specified date, usually the end of the Civil War. The goal of these new laws was to prevent poor, illiterate African-American former slaves from voting, while not denying poor, illiterate whites the voting right. These new standards included literacy tests, residence and property restrictions, and the payment of poll taxes for those wishing to vote. Because tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, ASH supports bold solutions proportionate to the magnitude of the problem.In the late 19th century, many Southern states passed laws, and made amendments to their state constitutions, creating new standards for voting rights. The production and marketing of tobacco products is a violation of the human right to health, and governments have a duty to stop the tobacco industry.įounded in 1967, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is America’s oldest anti-tobacco organization, dedicated to a world with ZERO tobacco deaths. Tobacco industry products kill over eight million people a year and killed more Americans in 2020 than did COVID-19. They are not the perpetrators of the tobacco epidemic, but rather the victims of a cynical industry that intentionally addicted them as children.ĪSH remains committed to ending the tobacco epidemic and not merely mitigating it. Going forward, we urge Brookline to offer comprehensive cessation support to people who want to quit smoking. In addition to preventing a new generation from being addicted to nicotine – and facing the long-term health issues that come with it – Brookline citizens who smoke will be further motivated to quit as smoking becomes rarer around them.
The Tobacco Free Generation (TFG) concept, which in effect is a sales ban with a grandfather clause for existing people of legal age who smoke, offers an excellent way forward in places where a comprehensive sales ban – such as those implemented earlier this year in Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach, CA – is undesirable or politically infeasible. We at ASH hope that this latest move motivates other cities in Massachusetts and beyond to follow their lead. Action on Smoking and Health applauds the people of Brookline for taking this historic step on the path to seeing the end of the tobacco epidemic and upholding the human rights of their fellow citizens above the interests of the tobacco industry.īrookline, a small city outside of Boston, has been an early adopter of other key anti-tobacco laws in the past, including comprehensive smoke-free air and raising the minimum age of purchase. WASHINGTON, DC – J– This morning Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey approved Brookline’s first-in-the-nation Tobacco Free Generation law, which prohibits the sale of all tobacco products to anyone born after Januwith the aim of protecting future generations from the devastating harm caused tobacco. to Ban Tobacco Sales to Anyone Born in the 21st Century
Statement from Laurent Huber, Executive Director,Īction on Smoking and Health Brookline, MA Becomes 1st City in the U.S.