Chapter 6.10
SMOKING POLLUTION CONTROL
Sections:
6.10.010 Purpose and definitions.
6.10.020 Regulation of smoking in city facilities.
6.10.030 Prohibition of smoking in public places.
6.10.040 Prohibition of smoking in places of employment.
6.10.070 Compliance with smoking pollution control chapter.
6.10.090 Violations and penalties.
6.10.100 Other applicable laws.
6.10.010 Purpose and definitions.
A. The city council finds and declares as follows: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that tobacco smoke is a major source of indoor air pollution, and the Surgeon General’s 1986 Report on the Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking concludes that exposure to tobacco smoke places healthy nonsmokers at increased risk for developing lung cancer. Other health hazards of involuntary smoking include respiratory infection, bronchoconstriction, and bronchospasm. While all members of the population are truly at increased risk due to exposure to sidestream tobacco smoke, it constitutes a special health hazard for children, the elderly, and people with chronic lung disorders.
B. The Surgeon General labels smoking “the largest single preventable cause of death and disability for the U.S. population.”
C. Employees subject to prolonged exposure to sidestream smoke in the workplace have been found in scientifically conducted studies to experience a loss of job productivity and some have been forced to take periodic sick leave because of reactions to secondhand smoke. Furthermore, studies have shown higher costs to the employer are associated with smoking in the workplace due to increases in absenteeism, accidents, costs of medical care, loss of productivity, and cleaning and maintenance requirements. A recent scientific study has reported that sidestream smoke from tobacco may cause a significant amount of cardiovascular disease in the United States and that the number of deaths from this cause may exceed the deaths caused by lung disease associated with sidestream smoke. Smoking in public places and workplaces is a major cause of fires and damage to merchandise and equipment, as well as costly maintenance and repairs to furniture and fixtures.
D. The health care costs produced by smoking-related ailments and diseases constitute a heavy and avoidable financial drain on our community.
E. Air pollution caused by smoking is an offensive annoyance and irritant. Smoking results in serious and significant physical discomfort to nonsmokers and constitutes a health hazard in public places and workplaces.
F. The following words and phrases, whenever used in this chapter, unless the content indicates otherwise, shall be construed as defined in this section:
1. “Smoking” means lighting, inhaling, exhaling or burning any pipe, cigar, cigarette, weed, or plant or carrying any lighted pipe, lighted cigar, lighted weed, lighted plant, or other ignited combustible substance in any manner or in any form;
2. “City of Patterson” means all entitles of which the city council of the city of Patterson is the governing body;
3. “Bar” means an area which is devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by guests on the premises and in which the serving of food is allowed, along with the consumption of beverages. Although a restaurant may contain a bar, the term “bar” shall not include the restaurant dining area;
4. “Business” means any sole proprietorship, partnership, 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;
5. “Dining area” means any enclosed area containing a counter or table upon which meals are served;
6. “Employee” means any person who is employed by any employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit, and any person who volunteers his or her services for a nonprofit entity;
7. “Employer” means any person, partnership, corporation, including a municipal corporation, or nonprofit entity, who employs the services of one or more individual persons;
8. “Enclosed area” means all space between a floor and ceiling which is enclosed on all sides by solid walls or windows (exclusive of doors or passageways) which extend from the floor to the ceiling, including all space therein screened by partitions which do not extend to the ceiling or are not solid, “office landscaping” or similar structures;
9. “Person” means any natural person, partnership, corporation, unincorporated association, joint venture, business trust, joint stock company, club, or other organization of any kind;
10. “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:
a. Work areas,
b. Employee lounges and rest rooms,
c. Conference and classrooms,
d. Employee cafeterias, and
e. Hallways.
11. “Public place” means any enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which the public is permitted, including but not limited to:
a. Banks,
b. Educational facilities,
c. Health facilities,
d. Public transportation facilities,
e. Recreation areas,
f. Restaurants,
g. Retail stores,
h. Retail service establishments,
i. Theaters,
j. Retail food production and marketing establishments, and
k. Waiting rooms. A private residence is not a “public place;”
12. “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 in this section.
13. “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.
14. “Sports arena” means sports pavilions, gymnasiums, health spas, boxing arenas, indoor swimming pools, roller and ice rinks, bowling alleys 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;
15. “Work area” or “work place” means any area of a place of employment enclosed by floor to ceiling walls in which two or more employees are assigned to perform work for an employer;
16. “Members of the general public” means shoppers, customers, patrons, patients, students, clients and other similar invitees of a commercial enterprise or nonprofit entity; and exclude employees thereof, sales representatives, service repair persons, and persons delivering goods, merchandise or services to a commercial enterprise, nonprofit entity or city.
17. “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 objects or purposes of the organization and not to private financial gain. A public agency is not a nonprofit entity within the meaning of this section.
18. “Tobacco store” means any retail store utilized primarily for the sale of tobacco products and accessories and in which the sale of other products is merely incidental. (Ord. 502 (part), 1993).
6.10.020 Regulation of smoking in city facilities.
All enclosed facilities owned or leased by the city are subject to the provisions of this chapter. (Ord. 502 (part), 1993).
6.10.030 Prohibition of smoking in public places.
Smoking shall be prohibited in the following places:
A. Elevators;
B. Buses, taxicabs, and other means of public transit under the authority of the city, and ticket, boarding, and waiting areas of public transit depots;
C. Rest rooms;
D. Service lines;
E. Retail stores;
F. All 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 professional offices and other offices;
G. Restaurants;
H. Public areas of aquariums, galleries, libraries, and museums when open to the public;
I. Any facility which is primarily used for exhibiting any motion picture, stage, drama, lecture, musical recital, or other similar performance, except when smoking is part of a stage production;
J. Sports arenas and convention halls;
K. 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 county or state during such time as a public meeting is in progress, to the extent such place is subject to the jurisdiction of the city;
L. Waiting rooms, hallways, wards, and rooms of health facilities, including, but not limited to, hospitals, clinics, physical therapy facilities, doctors’ offices, dentists’ offices, and long-term care facilities;
M. Enclosed common areas in apartment buildings, condominiums, retirement facilities, and long-term care facilities;
N. Polling places;
O. Enclosed common areas in shopping malls;
P. Barber shops, beauty shops, cleaners, laundromats, and other places where members of the general public congregate for service or otherwise frequent.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any owner, operator, manager, or other person who controls any establishment or facility may declare that entire establishment or facility as a nonsmoking establishment. (Ord. 502 (part), 1993).
6.10.040 Prohibition of smoking in places of employment.
It shall be the responsibility of employers to provide a smoke-free workplace for all employees, but employers are not required to incur any expense to make structural or other physical modifications.
A. Each employer having an enclosed place of employment located within the city jurisdiction shall adopt within six months from and after the effective date of the adoption of the ordinance codified in this chapter, implement, make known and maintain a written smoking policy which shall contain the following requirements:
Smoking shall be prohibited in all enclosed facilities within a place of employment. This includes common work areas, auditoriums, classrooms, conference and meeting rooms, private offices, elevators, hallways, medical facilities, cafeterias, employee lounges, stairs, rest rooms, vehicles, and all other enclosed facilities.
B. All new businesses shall be required to comply with the provisions of this section within sixty days after receiving business license.
C. The smoking policy shall be communicated to all employees within three weeks of its adoption.
D. All employers shall supply a written copy of the smoking policy upon request to any existing or prospective employee. (Ord. 502 (part), 1993).
6.10.050 Exempt areas.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, the following areas shall not be subject to the smoking restrictions of this article:
A. Bars;
B. Private residences, except when used as a child care or health care facility;
C. Retail tobacco stores;
D. Hotel and motel rooms rented to guests (provided, however, that each hotel and motel designates not less than fifty percent of their guest rooms as nonsmoking rooms and removes ashtrays from these rooms);
E. Smoking may be permitted in bingo and licensed card parlors, but only in a separate, enclosed room away from lobby and rest rooms;
F. Enclosed banquet rooms or conference rooms located in restaurants, hotels or motels used for private functions (smoking is permitted at host’s discretion);
G. Private clubs during events attended exclusively by members of the organization and their invited guests and from which members of the general public are excluded.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment described in this chapter may declare that entire establishment as a nonsmoking establishment. (Ord. 502 (part), 1993).
6.10.060 Posting of signs.
“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 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.
A. Every theater owner, manager or operator shall conspicuously post signs in the lobby stating that smoking is prohibited within the theater or auditorium, and in the case of motion picture theaters, such information shall be shown upon the screen for at least five seconds prior to the showing of each feature motion picture.
B. Every restaurant shall have posted at every entrance a conspicuous sign clearly stating that smoking is prohibited. (Ord. 502 (part), 1993).
6.10.070 Compliance with smoking pollution control chapter.
A. The police chief 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.
B. Any owner, manager, operator or employee of any establishment regulated by this chapter may inform persons violating this section of the appropriate provisions thereof. (Ord. 502 (part), 1993).
6.10.080 Enforcement.
Enforcement of this chapter shall be by the police department.
A. Any person who desires to register a complaint under this chapter may do so by filing it with the police chief.
B. If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions of applications of this chapter which can be given effect without the invalid provisions or application, and to this end the provisions of this chapter are severable. (Ord. 502 (part), 1993).
6.10.090 Violations and penalties.
It is unlawful for any person who owns, manages, operates or otherwise controls the use of any premises subject to regulation under this chapter to fail to comply with any of its provisions.
A. It is unlawful for any persons to smoke in any area where smoking is prohibited by the provisions of this chapter.
B. Any person who violates any provision of this chapter by smoking in a posted no-smoking area or otherwise violates any provision of this chapter is guilty of an infraction, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of one hundred dollars for the first offense; two hundred dollars for the second offense (in the same year); and five hundred dollars for the third offense (in the same year).
C. 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 right to a smoke-free environment afforded by this chapter. (Ord. 502 (part), 1993).
6.10.100 Other applicable laws.
This chapter shall not be interpreted or construed to permit smoking where it is otherwise restricted by other applicable laws. (Ord. 502 (part), 1993).