Fairfield Municipal Code Art. VI Protection of One’s Right to Breathe Fresh Air Through Regulation Of…

The City Council of the City of Fairfield does hereby find that:

(a) Numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution; and

(b) Reliable studies have shown that breathing sidestream or secondhand smoke is a significant health hazard for certain population groups, including elderly people, individuals and 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, bronchobstruction, 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; and

(e) The smoking of tobacco, or any other weed or plant, is a proven danger to health.

Accordingly, it has been determined that the health, safety, and general welfare of the residents of, persons employed in, and persons who frequent this city would be benefitted by the regulation of smoking in designated places, including places of employment.

(Ord. No. 2017-10, § 2)

The following words and phrases, whenever used in this article shall be construed as hereafter set out, unless it shall be apparent from the context that they have a different meaning.

(a)

"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.

(b)

"Employee"

means any person who is employed by any employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit.

(c)

"Employer"

means any person, partnership, corporation, including municipal corporations, who employ the services of more than three (3) persons.

(d)

"Enclosed"

means closed in by roof and four walls with appropriate openings for ingress and egress.

(e)

"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 childcare or healthcare facility. The dining area of a restaurant is not a "place of employment."

(f)

"Smoking"

means the carrying or holding of a lighted pipe, cigar, cigarette, electronic smoking device, vape/vaporizer, or any other lighted smoking equipment, or the lighting or emitting or exhaling of the smoke of a pipe, cigar, cigarette, electronic smoking device, vape/vaporizer, or any other kind of smoking equipment.

(g)

"Sports Arena"

means sports pavilion, gymnasium, health spa, boxing arena, swimming pool, roller and ice rink, bowling alley, and other similar place where members of the public assemble to engage in physical exercise, participate in athletic competition, or witness sports events.

(Ord. No. 2017-10, § 3)

All enclosed facilities owned by the City of Fairfield shall be subject to provisions of this article.

Smoking shall be prohibited in the following places within the city:

(a) 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, hotels and motels, pharmacies, banks, attorney’s offices, and other offices and enclosed shopping malls, except that enclosed shopping malls may designate no more than two smoking areas, each not to exceed 400 square feet, in the vicinity of the major department stores located near the end of the mall.

(b) Within all restaurants having an occupied capacity of 50 or more persons; provided, however, that this prohibition does not prevent (1) the designating of a contiguous area within a restaurant that contains no more than 50% of the seating capacity of the restaurant as a smoking area, or (2) the providing of separate rooms designated as smoking rooms, so long as said rooms do not contain more than 50% of the seating capacity of the restaurant.

(c) Waiting rooms, hallways, wards, and semi-private rooms of health facilities, including, but not limited to, hospitals, clinics, physical therapy facilities, doctors and dentists offices, except that health facilities shall also be subject to the provisions of section 12.604 of this article regulating smoking in places of employment.

(d) 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; provided, however, that this prohibition does not prevent (1) establishing separate waiting areas for smokers and nonsmokers, or (2) establishing at least 50% of a given waiting area as a nonsmoking area.

(e) In public areas of museums and galleries.

(f) Enclosed theaters, auditoriums, and halls which are used for motion pictures, stage dramas, and musical performances, ballets, or other exhibitions, except when smoking is part of any such production.

(g) Retail food marketing establishments, including grocery stores and supermarkets, except those areas of such establishments set aside for the purpose of serving food and drink, restrooms and offices, and areas thereof not open to the public which may be otherwise regulated by this article.

(h) Public schools and other public facilities under the control of another public agency, which are available to and are customarily used by the general public, to the extent that the same are subject to the jurisdiction of the city.

(i) Sports arenas and convention halls, except in designated smoking areas.

(j) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any other, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment described in this section may declare that entire establishment as a nonsmoking establishment.

(a) It shall be the responsibility of employers to provide smoke-free areas 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 these areas.

(b) Within 90 days of the effective date of this article, each employer and each place of employment located within the city 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, restrooms, medical facilities, hallways and elevators.

(2) Any employee in a place of employment shall be given the right to designate his or her immediate work area as a nonsmoking area and to 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."

A. In any dispute arising under this smoking policy, the rights of the nonsmoker shall be given precedence.

B. Provision and maintenance of a separate and contiguous nonsmoking area of not less than 50% of the seating capacity and floor space in cafeterias, lunchrooms, and employee lounges.

(c) The smoking policy shall be communicated to all employees within three weeks of its adoption, and at least annually thereafter.

(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, every employer shall have the right to designate any place of employment, or portion thereof, as a nonsmoking area.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article to the contrary, the following areas shall not be subject to the smoking restrictions of this article:

(1) Private residences;

(2) Bars;

(3) Hotel and motel rooms rented to guests;

(4) Retail stores that deal exclusively in the 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 residence which may serve as a place of employment, except when used as a childcare or a healthcare facility.

(7) A private enclosed place occupied exclusively by smokers, even though such a place may be visited by nonsmokers, and a private enclosed office, excepting places in which smoking is prohibited by the police department, or by any other law, ordinance, or regulation.

"Smoking" or "No Smoking" signs, whichever are appropriate, with letters of not less than 1" 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 article, by the owner, operator, manager, or other person having control of such building or other place.

Every restaurant regulated by this article 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.

(a) Enforcement shall be implemented by the city manager or his designees.

(b) Any citizen who desires to register a complaint hereunder may initiate enforcement with the city manager, or his designees.

(c) Any owner, manager, operator, or employer of any establishment controlled by this article shall have the right to inform persons violating this article of the appropriate provisions thereof.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person who owns, manages, operates, or otherwise controls the use of any premises subject to the restrictions of this article to fail to: properly post signs required hereunder; to provide signs for the use of employees in designating their areas; to properly set aside "No Smoking" areas; to adopt a smoking restriction policy; or to apply with any other requirements of this article.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to smoke in any area restricted by the provisions of this article.

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 article.

This article shall not be interpreted or construed to permit smoking where it is otherwise restricted by other applicable laws.

(Ord. No. 87-9, § 1)

(a) Within twenty-five (25) feet of any doorway or operable window that opens onto any part of Texas Street.

(b) Within twenty-five (25) feet of any door or operable window that opens onto any rear alley or parking lot located between Texas Street and Empire Street.

(c) Within twenty-five (25) feet of any door or operable window that opens onto any rear alley or parking lot located between Texas Street and Missouri Street.

(Ord. No. 2017-10, § 4)