HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 01241995 - 1.5 s� I� .5o
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
FIMW: Mark Finucane, Health Services Director C ra
Costa
DATE: January 10, 199510^
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SUBJECT: IMPLEMENTATION OF AB 13 - CALIFORNIA'S LAW FOR A SMOKE-FREE
WORKPLACE
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
Recommended Action:
Designate the Health Services Department as the agency responsible for enforcement of the various provisions
%of AB 13, California's Law For a Smoke-Free Workplace, in the unincorporated areas of Contra Costa County.
Fiscal Impact: None.
Background:
AB 13, California's Law For a Smoke-Free Workplace,was endorsed by the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors
on March 2, 1993, and signed into law on July 21, 1994. This law bans smoking in workplaces, including
restaurants, throughout the State of California and is a culmination of ten years of local city and county
initiatives to ban smoking in public places and at the worksite.
In 1985, Contra Costa County and its 19 cities became the first multi jurisdictional county in the United States
to enact uniform laws restricting smoking in public places and at the worksite. In 1990 the City/County
Relations Committee developed a model ordinance for Contra Costa, strengthening and updating the County's
1985 measure. Contra Costa County and 15 cities have passed versions of the City/County model ordinance,
strengthening the public; health protections against secondhand smoke. Most of these ordinances provide
protection for workers as strong or stronger than AB 13. Other counties and municipalities throughout the state
have also passed local ordinances restricting exposure to secondhand smoke. The tobacco industry responded
to these efforts with Proposition 188 to roll back local protections. The Contra Costa Board of Supervisors
opposed Prop 188 and it was resoundingly defeated by the voters, clearing the way for the implementation of
AB 13 on January 1 st of this year.
AB 13 bans smoking in workplaces, including restaurants, with some minor exceptions, many of which mirror
the County's own model ordinance. The state law is not pre-emptive. According to the legislative analyst, its
author Terry Freidman, and the League of Cities, AB 13 provides a minimum "floor" and permits stronger local
ordinances. Many of Contra Costa's local ordinances ban vending machine sales of cigarettes, for example,
which is not included in AB 13. AB 13 requires that each county and municipality designate responsibility for
enforcement to a local agency. The Health Services Department has enforced the County's ordinance for the
last ten years, and would continue to enforce AB 13 at the Board's designation.
Strong support for public health protections against tobacco and secondhand smoke has been a consistent theme
of the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors for the last ten years, as Board members, city councilmembers, and
as leaders in the community. AB 13 provides statewide public health protections against secondhand smoke.
Its passage owes much to the decade of legislative initiatives in Con Costa.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: _ YES SIGNATURE:
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD VMMITTEE
APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE S :
ACTION OF BOARD ON JAN X 4 IN APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
UNANIMOUS (ABSENT AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
Contact: Wendel Brunner, M.D. ATTESTED JAN 2 4 1995
cc: Wendel Brunner, M.D., Public Health Director PHIL BATCHELOR, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
Health Services Administration SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
M382t7-83 BY ,�` w ,DEPUTY