Chapter 8.24
SMOKE-FREE WORKPLACES AND INDOOR PUBLIC PLACES
Sections:
8.24.030 Prohibition of smoking in enclosed public places.
8.24.040 Prohibition of smoking in places of employment.
8.24.050 Distance from entryways.
8.24.060 Where smoking not regulated.
8.24.070 Posting of signs and ashtray removal.
8.24.100 Violations and penalties.
8.24.110 Other applicable laws.
8.24.120 Liberal construction.
8.24.010 Purpose.
The purpose of this chapter is to protect the public health and welfare by prohibiting smoking in specified public places and places of employment. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))
8.24.020 Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
“Attached bar” means a bar area of a restaurant whose hours of operation do not extend past the hours of operation of the restaurant to which it is attached.
“Bar” means an establishment, including, but not limited to, taverns, nightclubs, cocktail lounges, and cabarets, that is devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by guests on the premises.
“Business” means a sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation, or other business entity formed for profit-making purposes.
“Employee” means a person who is employed by an employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit, and a person who volunteers his or her services for a nonprofit entity.
“Employer” means a person, business, partnership, association, or corporation, including a municipal corporation, trust, or nonprofit entity that employs the services of one or more individual persons.
“Enclosed area” means all space between a floor and ceiling that is enclosed on all sides by solid walls or windows, exclusive of doorways, that extend from the floor to the ceiling.
“Public place” means an enclosed area available to and customarily used by the general public in businesses and nonprofit entities, including but not limited to:
1. Aquariums, galleries, libraries, and museums;
2. Banks, credit unions and other financial institutions;
3. Bingo facilities;
4. Convention facilities;
5. Educational facilities or institutions;
6. Elevators;
7. Fraternal organizations, such as the Eagles, Elks Lodge, the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Hall, when open to the public;
8. Facilities primarily used for exhibiting a motion picture, stage drama, lecture, musical recital, or other similar performance;
9. Health care facilities, including offices or institutions that provide care or treatment of medical, physical, mental, emotional, physiological, or psychological conditions and diseases including, but not limited to, hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals or other clinics, nursing homes, homes for the aging or chronically ill, laboratories, and offices of surgeons, chiropractors, physical therapists, physicians, dentists, and all specialists within these professions and all waiting rooms, hallways, private rooms, semiprivate rooms, and wards within these facilities;
10. Hotels and motels;
11. Laundromats;
12. Licensed child care and adult day care facilities;
13. Lobbies, hallways, and other common areas in apartment buildings, condominiums, trailer parks, retirement facilities, nursing homes, bed and breakfasts, hotels, motels and other multiple-unit residential facilities;
14. Polling places;
15. Professional offices;
16. Public transportation facilities, including buses and taxicabs, under the authority of the city of Valdez and ticket, boarding, and waiting areas of public transit depots;
17. Restaurants;
18. Restrooms, lobbies, reception areas, hallways, and other common-use areas;
19. Retail service establishments, retail stores, retail centers, and shopping malls;
20. Enclosed facilities, including buildings and vehicles owned, leased, or operated by the city of Valdez as well as covered areas open to the public that are not open to the sky such as tents, gazebos, and canopies;
21. Rooms, chambers, places of meeting or public assembly, including school buildings, under the control of an agency, board, commission, committee, or council of the city of Valdez or a political subdivision of the state when a public meeting is in progress, to the extent the place is subject to the jurisdiction of the city of Valdez;
22. Indoor service lines and waiting rooms in which one or more persons are waiting for or receiving service of any kind, whether or not the service involves the exchange of money;
23. Sports arenas, sports pavilions, stadiums, gymnasiums, health spas, boxing arenas, swimming pools, roller and ice rinks, bowling alleys, and other similar places where members of the public assemble to engage in physical exercise, participate in athletic competition, or witness sports or other events, including enclosed places in outdoor arenas.
“Restaurant” means an eating establishment, including, but not limited to, coffee shops, cafeterias, sandwich stands, and private and public school cafeterias, which gives or offers for sale food to the public, guests, or employees, as well as kitchens and catering facilities in which food is prepared on the premises for serving elsewhere. The term “restaurant” shall include an attached bar and temporary covered areas such as tents, gazebos, and canopies where food is served.
“Smoking” means inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted tobacco or smoking product including but not limited to cigars, cigarettes, or pipes. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))
8.24.030 Prohibition of smoking in enclosed public places.
Smoking shall be prohibited in all enclosed public places within the city of Valdez except as otherwise allowed in this chapter. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))
8.24.040 Prohibition of smoking in places of employment.
Smoking shall be prohibited in all enclosed areas within places of employment within the city of Valdez, except a smoking break room shall be allowed for employees that has a well-sealed door and is ventilated to the outside; providing, smoke does not enter prohibited areas. It cannot be a room in which employees are required to perform work-related tasks. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))
8.24.050 Distance from entryways.
Smoking is prohibited within a distance of twenty feet outside of the main entrance/entrances or other openings of an enclosed area where smoking is prohibited to ensure that tobacco smoke does not enter the area through entrances, windows, ventilation systems, or other means.
Other outside areas do not have a distance requirement as long as smoke does not enter a protected public place as defined herein. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))
8.24.060 Where smoking not regulated.
A. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, the following areas shall be exempt from the provisions of Sections 8.24.030 and 8.24.040:
1. Bars.
2. Attached bars; provided, that sufficient air exchange is provided directly to the outside of the attached bar to ensure that air from a smoking area is not drawn into or across enclosed areas where smoking is prohibited under the provisions of this chapter.
3. Private residences, except when used as a licensed child care, adult day care, or health care facility.
4. Rooms in a bed and breakfast, hotel or motel that are rented to guests and are designated as smoking rooms.
5. Retail tobacco stores, utilized primarily for the sale of tobacco products and accessories and in which the sale of other products is merely incidental; provided, that smoke from these places does not infiltrate into areas where smoking is prohibited under the provisions of this chapter.
6. Outdoor areas of places of employment except those covered by the provisions of Section 8.24.050.
B. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, an owner, operator, manager, or other person in control of an establishment, facility, or outdoor area may declare that entire establishment, facility, or outdoor area as a nonsmoking place. Smoking shall be prohibited in any place in which a sign conforming to the requirements of Section 8.24.070 is posted. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))
8.24.070 Posting of signs and ashtray removal.
A. “No Smoking” signs or the international “No Smoking” symbol (consisting of a pictorial representation of a burning cigarette enclosed in a circle with a bar across it) shall be clearly and conspicuously posted in every public place and place of employment where smoking is prohibited by this chapter by the owner, operator, manager, or other person in control of that place. Businesses where smoking is allowed shall post a sign stating so.
B. Every public place and place of employment where smoking is prohibited by this chapter shall have posted at all main entrances to a public place a conspicuous sign clearly stating that smoking is prohibited inside, as well as within twenty feet of the entrance. A “No Smoking” sign shall be conspicuously posted in all restrooms in public places where smoking is regulated.
C. All ashtrays and other smoking paraphernalia shall be removed from any area where smoking is prohibited by this chapter by the owner, operator, manager, or other person having control of the area.
D. The city of Valdez shall provide the regulatory “No Smoking” signs required by this chapter. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))
8.24.080 Nonretaliation.
No person or employer shall discharge, refuse to hire, or in any manner retaliate against an employee, applicant for employment, or customer because that employee, applicant, or customer exercises any rights afforded by this chapter or reports or attempts to prosecute a violation of this chapter. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))
8.24.090 Enforcement.
A. This chapter shall be enforced by the Valdez city manager or an authorized designee.
B. Any citizen who desires to register a complaint under this chapter may initiate enforcement with the Valdez city manager.
C. The Valdez Regional Health Authority, the fire department, or their designees shall, while an establishment is undergoing otherwise mandated inspections, inspect for compliance with this chapter.
D. An owner, manager, operator, or employee of an establishment regulated by this chapter shall inform persons violating this chapter of the appropriate provisions thereof. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))
8.24.100 Violations and penalties.
A. A person who smokes in an area where smoking is prohibited by the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of an infraction, punishable by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars.
B. A person who owns, manages, operates, or otherwise controls a public place or place of employment and who fails to comply with the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of an infraction, punishable by:
1. A fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for a first violation.
2. A fine not exceeding two hundred dollars for a second violation within one year.
3. A fine not exceeding three hundred dollars for each additional violation within one year. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))
8.24.110 Other applicable laws.
This chapter shall not be interpreted or construed to permit smoking where it is otherwise restricted by other applicable laws. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))
8.24.120 Liberal construction.
This chapter shall be liberally construed so as to further its purposes. (Ord. 04-04 § 1 (part))