CHAPTER 8.20
REGULATION OF SMOKING IN CERTAIN PUBLIC PLACES1
8.20.010 Title.
This chapter shall be entitled "Regulation of Smoking in Certain Public Places." (Ord. 1956 NCS §1 (part), 1994.)
8.20.020 Findings and purpose.
The council of the city of Petaluma does hereby find that:
A. Numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution; and
B. Reliable studies, including those by the Surgeon General of the United States, have shown that breathing sidestream or secondhand smoke is a significant health hazard; particularly to elderly people, individuals with cardiovascular disease, and individuals with impaired respiratory function, including asthmatics and those with obstructive airway disease; and
C. Health hazards induced by breathing sidestream or secondhand smoke include lung cancer, respiratory infection, decreased exercise tolerance, decreased respiratory function, bronchoconstriction and bronchospasm; and
D. Nonsmokers with allergies, respiratory diseases and those who suffer other ill effects of breathing sidestream or secondhand smoke may experience a loss of job productivity or may be forced to take periodic sick leave because of adverse reactions to same;
E. Persons, particularly employees, have a right to a smoke-free environment if they desire; and
F. In order to reduce addiction to tobacco products by children and teens, it is in the public interest to:
1. Prohibit self-service sales and self-service displays, racks and shelves of tobacco products;
2. Require the posting of warning signs at the point of purchase stating the legal age of sale and that identification is required to purchase tobacco; and
3. Prohibit tobacco vending machines in areas accessible to minors.
Therefore the council finds it in the public interest to regulate smoking in enclosed places and regulate sales of tobacco products to minors. (Ord. 1956 NCS §1 (part), 1994.)
8.20.030 Definitions.
The following words and phrases, whenever used in this chapter, shall be construed as defined in this section, unless it is apparent from the context that they have a different meaning:
A. "Associated parking area" means any area adjacent to a park that is owned, operated, or maintained by the city and designated for motor vehicle parking by patrons of the park.
B. "Bar" means a separate establishment, or a room in a restaurant physically separated by full walls from the rest of the restaurant, which is devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by patrons on the premises, in which no person under the age of eighteen years is allowed to enter except to travel to restroom facilities or a nonbar portion of a restaurant and which is separately ventilated from any other area. The bar area must not be the sole waiting area nor the sole entrance to the restaurant for dining patrons.
C. "Business" means any sole proprietorship, joint venture, corporation or other business entity formed for profit-making purposes, including retail establishments where goods or services are sold as well as professional corporations and other entities where legal, medical, dental, engineering, architectural or other professional services are delivered.
D. "Child care facilities" means any family day care home regulated by Sections 1597.30 and 1597.621 of the California Health and Safety Code and any day care center for children regulated by Section 1596.90 et seq. of the California Health and Safety Code. It does not include a foster home or residential child care facility.
E. "City" means the city of Petaluma, county of Sonoma, state of California.
F. "Employee" means any person who is employed by an employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit, and any person who volunteers his or her services for a nonprofit entity.
G. "Employer" means any person, partnership, corporation, including a municipal corporation, or nonprofit entity, who employs the services of one or more individual person.
H. "Enclosed" means surrounded by a ceiling, floor, and solid walls which, except for doors, passageways, and/or windows, extend from floor to ceiling on all sides. If an enclosed area is divided by internal partial walls or other office landscaping, it is still, in its entirety, enclosed.
I. "Nonprofit entity" means any corporation, unincorporated association or other entity created for charitable, philanthropic, educational, character-building, political, social or other similar purposes, the net proceeds from the operations of which are committed to the promotion of the objectives or purposes of the entity and not to private gain. A public agency is not a nonprofit entity within the meaning of this section.
J. "Park" means all city parks, community buildings and grounds, athletic facilities, open space areas and other grounds and facilities owned, operated, or maintained by the city for park, recreation or open space purposes.
K. "Person" means any individual, partnership, cooperative association, private corporation, personal representative, receiver, trustee, assignee, or any other legal entity.
L. "Place of employment" means any enclosed area under the control of a public or private employer which employees normally frequent during the course of employment, including, but not limited to, work areas, employee lounges and restrooms, conference and classrooms, vehicles, employee cafeterias or eating places and hallways. A private residence is not a place of employment for purposes of this chapter, unless it is used as a child care or health care facility.
M. "Restaurant" means any coffee shop, cafeteria, sandwich stand, private and public school cafeteria, and any other eating establishment which gives or offers for sale food to the public, guests, or employees as well as kitchens in which food is prepared on the premises for serving elsewhere, including catering facilities, except that the term "restaurant" shall not include a cocktail lounge or tavern if said cocktail lounge or tavern is a bar as defined herein.
N. "Retail tobacco store" means a retail store utilized primarily for the sale of tobacco products and accessories and in which the sale of other products is merely incidental.
O. "Self-service merchandising" means open display of tobacco products and point-of-sale tobacco promotional products that the public has access to without the intervention of an employee.
P. "Separately ventilated" means being equipped with a separate heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system from the rest of the restaurant and building which has direct external exhaust. The separately ventilated area must also be slightly negatively pressurized to prevent backstreaming of smoke into nonsmoking areas of the restaurant and building and must be ventilated at the maximum capacity of the ventilation system.
Q. "Service line" means any indoor line at which one or more persons are waiting for or receiving service of any kind, whether or not such service involves the exchange of money.
R. "Smoke" or "smoking" means the carrying of a lighted pipe, lighted cigar, or lighted cigarette of any kind, or the lighting of a pipe, cigar, or cigarette of any kind, including, but not limited to, tobacco, or any other weed or plant.
S. "Sports arena" means enclosed or unenclosed sports pavilions, gymnasiums, health spas, boxing arenas, swimming pools, roller and ice rinks, bowling alleys, pool halls, and other similar places where members of the general public assemble either to engage in physical exercise, participate in athletic competition, or witness sports events.
T. "Tobacco products" means any tobacco cigarette, cigar, pipe tobacco, smokeless tobacco, snuff or any other form of tobacco which may be utilized for smoking, chewing, inhalation or other manner of ingestion.
U. "Tobacco promotional products" means baseball caps, T-shirts, gym bags, coffee mugs, sunglasses, jackets and related items which have tobacco advertising logos, images, characters, messages and themes printed on them.
V. "Tobacco retailer" means any business, person or governmental entity that operates a store, stand, booth, concession, or other place at which sales of tobacco products are made to purchasers for consumption or use.
W. "Vendor-assisted" means a store where only an employee has access to the tobacco product and assists the customer by supplying the product. The customer does not take possession of the product until it is purchased.
(Ord. 2336 NCS §1 (part), 2009: Ord. 1956 NCS §l (part), 1994.)
8.20.040 Enforcement.
A. Any owner, manager, operator or employer of any establishment subject to this chapter shall have the responsibility to inform any apparent violator, whether public or employee, about any smoking restrictions in said establishment.
B. Enforcement of this chapter shall be the responsibility of the city manager or his/her designee, herein described as "administrative authority."
C. Any citizen who desires to register a complaint under this chapter may initiate the complaint with the administrative authority.
D. The city manager shall require, while an establishment is undergoing otherwise mandated inspections, a self-certification from the owner, manager, operator or other person having control of such establishment that all requirements of this chapter have been complied with.
(Ord. 1956 NCS §1 (part), 1994.)
8.20.045 Prohibition on smoking in city parks.2
It shall be unlawful for any person to smoke in any park. This section shall not apply to any associated parking area. (Ord. 2336 NCS §1 (part), 2009.)
8.20.050 City-owned facilities.
All vehicles owned, leased or operated under the authority of the city of Petaluma and all enclosed facilities owned, leased, or operated by the city of Petaluma or otherwise under the control of the Petaluma city council shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter. (Ord. 1956 NCS §l (part), 1994.)
8.20.060 Prohibition of smoking in enclosed places.
A. Smoking shall be prohibited in all enclosed places within the city limits of Petaluma, including, but not limited to:
1. All enclosed areas available to and customarily used by the general public in all businesses and nonprofit entities patronized by the public, including, but not limited to, retail stores, common areas and conference rooms in hotels and motels, laundromats, pharmacies, banks, attorneys’ offices, restaurants, card parlors, and all areas in enclosed shopping malls inside and outside of retail stores;
2. Waiting rooms, hallways, wards, and rooms of health facilities, including, but not limited to, hospitals, clinics, physical therapy facilities, mental health, drug and alcohol treatment facilities, and doctors’ and dentists’ offices;
3. Elevators, public restrooms, indoor service lines, buses, taxicabs, and other means of public transit under the authority of the city, and in ticket, boarding, and waiting areas of public transit depots;
4. Aquariums, galleries, libraries and museums;
5. Theaters, auditoriums, and halls which are primarily used for exhibiting motion pictures, stage productions, lectures, musical recitals or other similar performances, except when smoking is part of such production;
6. Sports arenas and convention halls;
7. Retail food marketing establishments, including grocery stores and supermarkets;
8. Restaurants;
9. All places of employment;
10. Every room, chamber, place of meeting or public assembly, including school buildings under the control of any board, council, commission, committee including joint committees, or agencies of the city or any political subdivision of the state during such time as a public meeting is in progress, to the extent such place is subject to the jurisdiction of the city of Petaluma;
11. Public schools and other public facilities under the control of another public agency, which are available to and customarily used by the general public, to the extent that the same are subject to the jurisdiction of the city of Petaluma;
12. Lobbies, hallways, club houses, and other common areas in apartment buildings, condominiums, senior citizen residences, nursing homes, and other common facilities in multiple residential facilities including, but not limited to, mobilehome parks planned unit developments, etc.;
13. Lobbies, hallways, restrooms, and other common areas in multiple unit commercial facilities;
14. Polling places.
B. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment or facility may prohibit smoking within the entire establishment or facility.
(Ord. 1956 NCS §l (part), 1994.)
8.20.070 Places of employment.
A. Within ninety days of the effective date of this chapter, each employer having an enclosed place of employment located within the city of Petaluma shall adopt, implement, make known and maintain a written smoking policy which shall contain the following requirements:
1. Smoking shall be prohibited in all enclosed facilities within a place of employment without exception. This includes common work areas, auditoriums, classrooms, conference and meeting rooms, private offices, elevators, hallways, medical facilities, cafeterias, employee lounges, stairs, restrooms, vehicles and all other enclosed facilities.
B. The smoking policy shall be communicated to all employees within three weeks of its adoption, and at least annually thereafter and all employers shall supply a written copy of the smoking policy to any existing or prospective employee.
C. All employers shall comply with these nonsmoking provisions and shall be responsible for their implementation in their places of employment.
D. "No Smoking" signs shall be conspicuously posted at all building entrances and in employee lounges, cafeterias and lunchrooms.
E. Places of employment exempt from the prohibition on smoking in other sections of this chapter shall also be exempt from this section.
(Ord. 1956 NCS §1 (part), 1994.)
8.20.080 Smoking optional areas.
A. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, the following areas shall not be subject to the smoking restrictions of this chapter:
1. Private residences, except when used as a child care or health care facility;
2. Bars;
3. Not more than fifty percent of rooms rented to guests in any hotel or motel;
4. Retail stores that deal primarily in the sale of tobacco products and accessories;
5. An enclosed place of employment which employs only the owner and no other employee; provided, that:
a. The place of employment is not a public place, and
b. The place of employment does not share a ventilation system with any other enclosed place of employment or public place.
B. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment described in this section may declare that entire establishment as a nonsmoking establishment.
(Ord. 1956 NCS §1 (part), 1994.)
8.20.090 Posting of signs.
A. "No Smoking" signs or the international "No Smoking" symbol (consisting of a pictorial representation of a burning cigarette enclosed in a red circle with a red bar across it) shall be clearly, sufficiently and conspicuously posted in every building, as well as on entrances at eye level, or other place where smoking is regulated by this chapter, by the owner, operator, manager or other person having control of such building or other place.
B. Every restaurant and mall shall have posted at every entrance a conspicuous sign clearly stating that smoking is prohibited.
C. Every park shall have posted signs clearly indicating that smoking is prohibited.
(Ord. 2336 NCS §1 (part), 2009; Ord. 1956 NCS §l (part), 1994.)
8.20.100 Regulation of the manner of sale of tobacco products.
A. Any person, business, or other establishment which sells cigarettes and other tobacco products for consumption shall post plainly visible signs at the point of purchase of tobacco products which state:
"THE SALE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS TO PERSONS UNDER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE IS PROHIBITED BY LAW. PHOTO ID IS REQUIRED TO PURCHASE TOBACCO"
The letters of these signs shall be at least one quarter inch high.
B. No person, business, or owner, manager, operator or employee of any establishment shall sell, offer to sell or permit to be sold, any tobacco product to an individual without requesting and examining identification establishing the purchasers age as eighteen years or greater unless the seller has some reasonable basis for determining the buyer’s age.
C. It shall be unlawful for any person, business, or tobacco retailer to sell, permit to be sold, or offer for sale any tobacco product or tobacco promotional product by means of self-service merchandising or by means other than vendor-assisted sales.
D. Standard ten pack cartons of cigarettes, multi-packages of smokeless tobacco, cigars and pipe tobacco are exempt from this provision so long as these tobacco products are under constant direct sight surveillance of a store employee.
E. These tobacco products shall be deemed to be under constant direct sight surveillance of an employee only if the tobacco products themselves (and not just the displays, racks, shelves, kiosks, etc. where the products are displayed) are in plain and full view of a store employee.
F. No person, business or owner, manager, operator or employee of any establishment shall sell, offer for sale, or distribute any cigarette or other tobacco product by or from a vending machine or appliance, or any other coin-operated mechanical device designed or used for vending purposes, except for vending machines located within the premises licensed by the state of California for on sale liquor sales and located within areas of such premises to which access by minors is prohibited by law.
(Ord. 1956 NCS §l (part), 1994.)
8.20.110 Penalties.
A. Any owner, manager, operator or employer of any establishment subject to this chapter shall have the responsibility to inform any apparent violator, whether public or employee, about any smoking restrictions in said establishment.
B. The city manager shall require, while an establishment is undergoing otherwise mandated inspections, a self-certification from the owner, manager, operator or other person having control of such establishment that all requirements of this chapter have been complied with.
C. It shall be unlawful for any person who owns, manages, operates or otherwise controls the use of any premises subject to this chapter to fail to comply with any requirements of this chapter.
D. It shall be unlawful for any person to smoke in any area where smoking is prohibited by the provisions of this chapter.
E. Except as may otherwise be provided by the laws of the state of California, any person or business found to be in violation of any provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of an infraction, punishable by:
1. A fine, not exceeding one hundred dollars, for the first violation;
2. A fine, not exceeding two hundred dollars, for a second violation of this chapter within one year;
3. A fine, not exceeding five hundred dollars, for each additional violation of this chapter within five years.
F. Smoking in any area where smoking is prohibited by this chapter and any other violation of this chapter constitutes a public nuisance and may be abated as such, and otherwise enforced in accordance with any of the enforcement remedies contained in Chapters 1.10 through 1.16, and any remedies available under any applicable state or federal statute or pursuant to any other lawful action, prosecuted by the city attorney in the name of the city. All remedies shall be alternative to or in conjunction with, and not exclusive of, one another.
(Ord. 2336 NCS §1 (part), 2009: Ord. 1956 NCS §l (part), 1994.)
8.20.120 Nonretaliation.
No person or employer shall discharge, refuse to hire, or in any manner retaliate against any employee or applicant for employment because such employee or applicant exercises any rights afforded by this chapter. (Ord. 1956 NCS §l (part), 1994.)
8.20.130 Other applicable laws.
This chapter shall not be interpreted to permit smoking where it is otherwise restricted by other applicable laws. (Ord. 1956 NCS §1 (part), 1994.)
8.20.140 Effective date.
The provisions of this chapter shall be effective September l, 1994. (Ord. 1956 NCS §l (part), 1994.)
8.20.150 Statutory severability.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of the chapter. (Ord. 1956 NCS §l (part), 1994.)
8.20.160 Liberal construction.
It is the intention of the Petaluma city council that this chapter shall be liberally construed to accomplish its remedial objectives and to be compatible with federal and state enactments. (Ord. 1956 NCS §l (part), 1994.)
Editor’s Note: Prior ordinance history: Ordinance 1194 NCS, Ordinance No. 1704 NCS.
Editor’s Note: Ord. No. 2336 added this section as Section 8.20.040. This section has been editorially renumbered to prevent duplication of numbering.