A House Committee on Thursday blocked a proposal that would have required tobacco shop owners to undergo a criminal background check before getting a business license, but approved the measure on a 7-4 vote after it was softened.

A substitute HB95 passed by the House Political Subdivisions Committee and sent to the full House would require new shops to get a speciality business license and prohibit the shop from being near a school, park, church, daycare center, library, neighborhood, farm or another tobacco shop.

Among those supporting the measure was Layton City Attorney Gary Crane.

"It's not that they are selling these things to babies or 5-year-olds, but they attract a bad crowd," said Crane.

He compared smoke shops to pawn shops, which are heavily regulated. "And the reason the state has tightened up on pawn shops is because you have the outcasts, the outliers there, and the same is true with smoke shops."

— Andrea Whatcott