Gridley Municipal Code Ch. 8.24 Regulation of Smoking in Designated Enclosed Public Places and Work Places

The City Council of the City of Gridley finds 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 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; and

E. The smoking of tobacco, or any other weed or plants, 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 enclosed places, including places of employment.

(Ord. 563, 1990).

The following words and phrases, whenever used in this chapter, shall be construed as set out in this section, unless it is 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 corporation, who employs the services of more than four persons.

D. "Enclosed" means closed in by roof and four walls with appropriate openings of 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 rooms, and employee cafeterias. A private residence is not a place of employment, unless said residence is used as a child care or a health care facility.

F. "Private function" means any function to which the general public is not invited.

G. "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.

(Ord.1 563, 1990).

All enclosed facilities owned by the city shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter.

(Ord. 563, 1990).

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, attorneys' offices and other offices;

B. Within all restaurants having a seating capacity of fifty or more persons; provided, however, that this prohibition does not prevent:

1. The designating of a contiguous area within the restaurant that contains no more than fifty percent 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 fifty percent 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' offices and dentists’ offices, except that health facilities shall also be subject to the provisions of Section 8.24.050 of this chapter 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. The establishment of separate waiting area for smokers and nonsmokers, or

2. The establishment of at least fifty percent of a given waiting area as a nonsmoking area;

E. In public areas of museums, 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 and where specific smoking areas have been established in lobbies;

G. Retail food marketing establishments, including grocery stores and supermarkets, except those areas of such establishment 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 this chapter;

H. 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;

I. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment described in this section may declare that entire establishment is a nonsmoking establishment.

(Ord. 563, 1990).

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 ninety (90) days of the effective date of this chapter, 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, classrooms, auditoriums, 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 fifty percent 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 subsection, every employer shall have the right to designate any place of employment, or portion thereof, as a nonsmoking area.

(Ord. 563, 1990).

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

A. Private residences, unless said residence is used as a child care or a health care facility;

B. Bars;

C. Hotel and motel rooms rented to guests;

D. Retail stores that deal exclusively in the sale of tobacco and smoking paraphernalia;

E. Restaurants, hotel and motel conference or meeting rooms, and public and private assembly rooms while these places are being used for private functions;

F. A private enclosed place occupied 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.

(Ord. 563, 1990).

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 not less than four inches in diameter 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 ordinance 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.

(Ord. 563, 1990).

A. Administration of this chapter shall be by the Butte County Health Department or its designees.

B. Any citizen who desires to register a complaint hereunder may request the Butte County Health Department or its designees to consider enforcement by either of the following actions:

1. Serving notice requiring the correction of any violation of this chapter;

2. Calling upon the district attorney to maintain any action for injunction to enforce the provisions of this chapter, to cause the correction of any such violation, and for assessment and recovery of the penalty for such violation.

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

D. The fire department or the health department shall require, while an establishment is undergoing otherwise mandated inspections, a "self-certification" from the owner, manager, or operator or other person having control of such establishment that all requirements of this chapter have been complied with.

E. No Liability for Nonenforcement. In undertaking the enforcement of this chapter, the county is assuming an undertaking only to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it imposing on its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that such breach proximately caused injury.

F. When the provisions of this chapter are not remedied by county officials, civil action against Butte County is denied and county is absolved for any responsibility to enforce and/or any liability for failure to enforce.

(Ord. 563, 1990).

A. It is unlawful for any person who owns, manages, operates or otherwise controls the use of any premises subject to the restrictions of this chapter to fail to: properly post signs required hereunder; provide signs for the use of employees in designating their areas; properly set aside "no smoking" areas; to adopt a smoking restriction policy; or to comply with any other requirements of this chapter.

B. It is unlawful for any person to smoke in any area restricted by the provisions of this chapter.

C. It is unlawful to mutilate or destroy any signs required by this chapter.

D. Any person/business who violates subsections A, B, or C of this section, or any other provisions of this chapter, is guilty of an infraction and upon conviction thereof shall be punished 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 one year.

E. The provisions of this section may be enforced in the manner in which infractions are customarily enforced within the city.

(Ord. 563, 1990).

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. 563, 1990).

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

(Ord. 563, 1990).

The provisions of Gridley Municipal Code Section 1.01.100 regarding severability are incorporated into this chapter.

(Ord. 563, 1990).

Federal, State, County, school and all other district officials are urged to enact and enforce provisions similar to the provisions contained in this chapter.

(Ord. 563, 1990).