This model ordinance was produced by the Technical Assistance Legal Center (TALC) to help guide California cities and counties that wish to regulate youth access to tobacco. The model ordinance provides comments after most provisions, and offers options for changing or customizing the ordinance at various points.

An ordinance prohibiting the self-service display of tobacco products reduces youth access to tobacco by reducing tobacco theft. It also increases the level of interaction required before a clerk can sell tobacco to a minor by requiring the minor to specifically ask for tobacco and the clerk to consciously provide it. This model ordinance applies to all tobacco products and paraphernalia and is therefore more comprehensive than state law, which prohibits only the self-service display of cigarettes and explicitly provides that broader local requirements may be enacted.