South Pasadena Municipal Code Art. V Smoking—prohibited

The city council finds that the smoking of tobacco, or any other weed or plant, is a positive danger to health and a material annoyance, inconvenience, discomfort and a health hazard to those who are present in confined and open spaces, and that smoking rates are on the increase among the youth population of Los Angeles County.

In addition, the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have concluded that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and heart disease in healthy nonsmokers. In order to promote public health, safety and welfare, the declared purposes of this chapter are to prohibit the smoking of tobacco, or any weed or plant, in public places and places of employment, to protect the public health by restricting public exposure to secondhand smoke, and to restrict youth access to tobacco products, as stated and required in this chapter. (Ord. No. 2161, § 2, 2007.)

This chapter is enacted pursuant to the provisions of Section 118910 of the California Health and Safety Code for the purpose of prohibiting smoking in public places and in places of work in order to eliminate the hazards and nuisance which smoking causes to those who are involuntarily exposed. (Ord. No. 2161, § 2, 2007.)

The following words and phrases, whenever used in this chapter, shall be construed as defined in this section:

A. “Bars” or “drinking establishment” means any establishment where alcoholic beverages and other drinks, including, but not limited to, juice, coffee, tea or soda are sold to the public for on-site consumption.

B. “Employer” means any person, partnership, corporation, including a municipal corporation, joint venture, business entity, or nonprofit entity who employs the services of one or more individual persons.

C. “Employee” means any person who is employed by any employer whether full-time, part-time, temporarily or by contract with a third party for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit.

D. “Enclosed” means closed in by a roof and four walls with appropriate openings for ingress and egress.

E. “Entertainment facilities” means pool halls, game halls, bingo parlors, bowling alleys, motion picture theaters and similar establishments.

F. “Parkway” means the portion of a street other than a roadway or a sidewalk, including a median and the area between the curb and the sidewalk, which may include landscaping.

G. “Restaurant” or “eating establishment” means any place where cooked or otherwise prepared food is served to the public, including a bistro, cafe, catering establishment, coffee shop, cafeteria, cantina, fast food service, luncheonette, soda fountain, tasting room, tavern, or other establishment where cooked or otherwise prepared food is sold to the public.

H. “School” means any public or private school providing instruction in kindergarten or any of grades one to 12, inclusive, but does not include any private school in which education is primarily conducted in private homes.

I. “Smoking” means inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted or heated cigar, cigarette, or pipe, or any other lighted or heated tobacco or plant product, including but not limited to cannabis, intended for inhalation, whether natural or synthetic, in any manner or in any form. “Smoking” includes the use of an electronic smoking device that creates an aerosol or vapor, in any manner or in any form, or the use of any oral smoking device for the purpose of circumventing the prohibition of smoking.

J. “Service area” means any area where one or more persons are awaiting services of any kind, regardless of whether or not such service involves the exchange of money. Such services shall include, but are not limited to, sales of goods, giving information, directions or advices, and transfers of money or goods.

K. “Transit stop” means any indoor or outdoor area where a mass transit system stops to pick up and drop off passengers. Such transit stops shall include, but are not limited to, any signalized bus stop and commuter rail line station area.

L. “Workplace” means any enclosed place of employment where two or more employees are assigned to perform work for an employer.

M. “Vendor-assisted sale” means a purchase requiring a direct, face-to-face exchange between the retailer and the customer, in which the vendor has access to the tobacco product, and assists the customer by supplying the product. The customer does not take possession of the product until it is purchased.

N. “Tobacco product” means any manufactured substance made from the tobacco plant, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, e- cigarettes, electronic smoking devices (whether or not they actually contain nicotine), cigars, pipe tobacco, or products prepared from tobacco and designed for smoking.

O. “Electronic smoking device” means an electronic and/or battery-operated device, cartridge or component, the use of which may resemble smoking, which can be used to deliver an inhaled dose of nicotine or other substances, including but not limited to cannabis, to the user in the form of a vapor, including, but not limited to, any device manufactured, distributed, marketed, or sold as an “ecigarette” or electronic cigarette, an electronic cigar, an electronic cigarillo, an electronic pipe, an electronic hookah, alternative nicotine product or any other product name or descriptor. “Electronic smoking device” does not include any product specifically approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for use in the mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease. (Ord. No. 2161, § 2, 2007; Ord. No. 2277, §§ 2, 3, 2014; Ord. No. 2322, § 1, 2018.)

All city-owned vehicles, and all buildings and facilities owned and controlled by the city, shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter. (Ord. No. 2161, § 2, 2007; Ord. No. 2322, § 2, 2018.)

It is unlawful for any person to smoke and/or to possess a burning tobacco product, plant, including but not limited to cannabis, or other combustible substance, in or upon any dedicated city park, playground, open spaces directly connected and surrounding public facilities or recreation centers, excluding the smoking of tobacco products from the playing area of the city’s public 18-hole golf course, but not excluding the miniature golf course, restaurant, putting green area and driving range located at the golf course and further, it is unlawful to dispose of lighted or unlighted cigars or cigarettes or cigarette butts in the aforementioned areas other than in designated waste receptacles. (Ord. No. 2161, § 2, 2007; Ord. No. 2322, § 3, 2018.)

It is unlawful for a person to engage in retail tobacco sales at other than a fixed location. Itinerant tobacco retailing and tobacco retailing from vehicles are both expressly prohibited. (Ord. No. 2161, § 2, 2007.)

Smoking shall be prohibited in any unenclosed area within a distance of 25 feet from an area in which smoking is prohibited under SPMC 17.53 (Application to city-owned vehicles, buildings, and facilities), 17.54 (Prohibition of smoking in public parks), 17.56 (Prohibition of smoking in public places) and 17.58-2 (Prohibition of smoking in the workplace) of Article V (Smoking—Prohibited), Chapter 17 SPMC (Health and Sanitation). (Ord. No. 2204, § 6, 2010; Ord. No. 2322, § 6, 2018.)