HomeMy WebLinkAboutORDINANCES - 03031987 - 87-13 ORDINANCE NO. 87-13
(Codifying and Amending the Smoking Ordinance)
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors ordains as follows
(omitting the parenthetical footnotes from the official text of
the enacted or amended provisions of the County Ordinance Code) :
SECTION I: SUMMARY. This ordinance codifies and amends Ordinance
Numbers 85-57 and 86-35., allows sports arenas to designate
certain areas as smoking areas, prohibits smoking in private
residences used as child or health care facilities, requires
private residences used as board and care facilities provide
nonsmoking areas, and provides that the dining areas of
restaurants are not places of employment:
SECTION II : Division 440 (Sections 440-2. 002 through 440-2.022
inclusive) is added to the County Ordinance Code to read:
Division 440
SMOKING
Chapter 440-2
REGULATION OF SMOKING
440-2. 002 Purpose and findings. (a) The board of
supervisors of the county of Contra Costa hereby finds
that:
( 1) Numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is a
major contributor to indoor air pollution; and
( 2) Reliable studies have shown that breathing sidestream
or secondhand smoke is a significant health hazard for certain
population groups, including elderly people, individuals with
cardiovascular disease, and individuals with impaired
respiratory function; including asthmatics and those with
obstructive airway disease; and
( 3 ) Health hazards induced by breathing sidestream or
secondhand smoke include lung cancer, respiratory infection,
decreased exercise tolerance, decreased respiratory function,
bronchoconstriction, and bronchospasm; and
( 4 ) 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 lease because of adverse
reactions to same; and
( 5) The smoking of tobacco, or any other weed or plant,
is a danger to health.
( 6) Accordingly, the health, safety and general welfare
of the residents of persons employed in, and persons who
frequent this county would be benefited by the regulation of
smoking in enclosed places, including places of employment.
(Ords. 87-13 , 85-57 §1. )
440-2.004 Definitions. The following words and
phrases, whenever used in this chapter, shall be construed
as hereafter set out, unless it is apparent that they have
a different meaning:
( 1) "Bar" means an area which is devoted to the
serving of alcoholic beverages and in which the service of
food is only incidental to the consumption of such
beverages.
ORDINANCE NO. 87- 13
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( 2) "Employee" means any person who is employed by any
employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary
wages or profit.
( 3 ) "Employer" means any person, partnership,
corporation, including municipal corporation or public
entities, who employs the services of more than three
persons.
( 4) "Enclosed" means closed in by a roof and for walls
with appropriate openings for ingress and egress.
(5) "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, conference
rooms, and employee cafeterias. A private residence is not a
place of employment unless it is used as a child care or
health care facility. The dining area of a restaurant is not
a place of employment.
(6 ) "Smoking" means the carrying or holding of a lighted
pipe, cigar, or cigarette of any kind, or any other lighted
smoking equipment or the lighting or emitting or exhaling the
smoke of a pipe, cigar, or cigarette of any kind.
( 7 ) "Sports Arena" means sports pavilions, gymnasiums,
health spas, boxing arenas, swimming pools, roller and ice
rinks, bowling alleys, halls, and other similar places
where members of the public assemble to engage in physical
exercise, participate in athletic competition, or witness
sports events. (Ords. 87- 13_, 85-57 §2. )
440-2. 006 County-owned facilities. To the extent
allowed by law, all enclosed facilities owned by the county
of Contra Costa are subject to the provisions of this
chapter. (Ords. 87-13 , 85-57 53 . )
440-2. 008 Prohibition of smoking in enclosed places.
Smoking is prohibited in the following places within the
unincorporated area of Contra Costa County and to the
extent allowed by law in county-owned facilities:
( 1) All enclosed areas available to and customarily
used by the general public and all businesses patronized by
the public, including, but not limited to, retail stores,
hotel and motels, pharmacies, banks, attorneys ' offices and
other offices;
( 2) Within all restaurants having a seating capacity of
fifty or more persons; provided, however, that this
prohibition does not prevent (a) the designating of a
contiguous area within the restaurant that contains no more
than sixty percent of the seating capacity of the restaurant
as a smoking area, or (b) the providing of separate rooms
designated as smoking rooms, so long as said rooms do not
contain more than sixty percent of the seating capacity of the
restaurant;
( 3 ) Waiting rooms, hallways, wards, and semi-private
rooms of health facilities, including, but not limited to,
hospitals, clinics, physical therapy facilities, doctors'
offices, except that health facilities shall also be subject
to the provisions of Section 440-2. 010 regulating smoking in
places of employment;
ORDINANCE NO. 87-13
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(4) Elevators, public restrooms, indoor services lines,
buses, taxicabs and other means of public transit under the
authority of public entities, and in ticket, boarding, and
. waiting areas of public transit deport; provided, however,
that this prohibition does not prevent (a) the establishment
of separate waiting areas for smokers and nonsmokers, or (b)
-the establishment of at least forty percent of a given waiting
area as a nonsmoking area.
(5) In public area of museums and galleries;
( 6 ) Enclosed theaters, auditoriums, and halls which are
used for action pictures, stage dramas and musical
performances, ballets or other exhibitions, except when
smoking is part of any such production; .
( 7) Retail food marketing establishments, including
grocery stores,and supermarkets, except those areas of such
establishments set aside for the serving of food and drink,
restrooms and offices, and areas thereof not open to the
public, which may be otherwise regulated by other sections of
this chapter;
(8) Public schools and other public facilities under the
control of another public agency, which re available to and
customarily used by the general public, to the extent that the
same are subject to the jurisdiction of the county;
( 9) Sports arenas and convention halls, except in
designated smoking areas.
(10) Private residences when used as child care or
health care facilities. Board and care facilities shall
provide smokefree living quarters for non-smoking boarders.
(11) 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. (Ords. 87-13 , 85-57 54. )
440-2. 010 Regulation of smoking in places of employment.
(a) It is the responsibility of employers to provide
smoke-free area for nonsmokers within existing facilities to
the maximum extent possible, but employers are not required to
incur any expense to make structural or other physical
modifications in providing other areas.
(b) Within ninety days of the effective date of the
ordinance codified in this chapter, each employer and each
place of employment located within the unincorporated area of
the county shall adopt, implement, make known and maintain a
written smoking policy, which shall contain at a minimum the
following requirements:
(1) Prohibition of smoking in conference and meeting
rooms, classrooms, auditoriums, restrooms, medical facilities,
hallways, and elevators;
(2) Any employee in a place of employment may designate
his or her immediate work are as a nonsmoking area and post
the same with an appropriate sign or signs, to be provided by
the employer. The policy adopted by the employer shall
include a reasonable definition of the term "immediate work
area;"
(3) In any dispute arising under a smoking policy, the
rights of the nonsmoker shall be given precedence;
(4) Provision and maintenance of a separate and
contiguous nonsmoking area of not less than forty percent of
the seating capacity and floor space in cafeterias, lunchrooms
and employee lounges;
(5) The smoking policy shall be communicated to all
employees within three weeks of its adoption, and at least
annually thereafter;
ORDINANCE NO. 87-13 .
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(6 ) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of
these section, every employer shall have the right to
designate any place of employment, or portion thereof, as a
nonsmoking area. (Ords. 87-13 , 85-57 §5. )
440-2. 012 Optional smoking areas. Notwithstanding
any other provisions of this chapter to the contrary, the
following areas shall not be subject to the smoking
restrictions of this chapter:
( 1) A private residence, including one which may serve
as a place of employment, except when covered by
§ 440-2.008( 10) ;
( 2) Bars;
(3 ) Hotel and motel rooms rented to guests;
(4 ) Retail stores that deal exclusively int he sale of
tobacco and smoking paraphernalia;
( 5) Restaurants, hotel and motel conference or meeting
rooms, and public and private assembly rooms while these
places are being used for private functions;
( 6) A private enclosed place used exclusively by smokers,
even though such a place may be visited by nonsmokers, and
private enclosed offices, excepting places in which smoking is
prohibited by the fire department or by any other law,
ordinance, or regulation. (Ords. 87- 13 , 85-57 §6. )
440-2. 014 Posting requirements. (a) "Smoking" or "No
Smoking" signs whichever are appropriate, with letters of not
less than one inch in height 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 controlled by
this chapter, by the owner, operator, manager or other person
having control of such building or other place.
(b) Every restaurant regulated by this chapter will have
posted at its entrance a sign clearly stating that a
nonsmoking section is available, and every patron shall be
asked as to his or her preference. (Ords. 87-13 85-57 §7. )
440-2 . 016 Enforcement. (a) Administration of this
chapter shall be by the Contra Costa health services
department or its designees.
(b) Any citizen who desires to register a complaint
hereunder may initiate enforcement consideration with the
Contra Costa health services department or its designees.
(c) Any owner, manager, operator or employer of any
establishment controlled by this chapter may inform persons
violating tNis chapter of the appropriate provisions thereof.
(Ords. 87- , 85-57 §8. )
440-2.018 Penalties. (a) It is unlawful for any person
who owns, managers, operates or other wise controls the use of
any premises subject to the restrictions of this section to
fail to: properly post signs required hereunder; to provide
signs for the use of employees in designating their areas; to
set aside "No Smoking" areas; to adopt a smoking restriction
policy; or to comply with any other requirements of this
ordinance.
(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to smoke in any
area restricted by the provisions of this section.
ORDINANCE NO. 87-13-
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(c) Any person or business who violates subsection (a) or
(b) herein, or any other provision of this section, 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 ordinance within one year;
(3 ) A fine, not exceeding five hundred dollars, for each
additional violation of this ordinance within one year.
(Ords. 87- 13 , 86-35 §2, 85-57. §9. )
440-2. 020 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.
(Ords. 87- 13 , 85-57 §10. )
440-2. 022 Other applicable laws. this chapter shall not
be interpreted or construed to permit smoking where it is
otherwise restricted by other applicable laws. (Ords. 87- 131?
85-57 §11. )
SECTION III: EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance becomes effective 30
days after passage, and within 15 days of passage shall be
published once with the names of the supervisors voting for and
against it in the Contra Costa Times a
newspaper published in this County.
PASSED ON March 3 , 1987. by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisors Powers , Fanden , Schroder , Torlakson, McPeak.
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None .-
ABSTAIN:
one;ABSTAIN: None .
ATTEST: PHIL BATCHELOR, Clerk of
the Board and County Administrator
By
C .Matthews
Board Chair
[SEAL]
ORDINANCE NO. 8713