HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 900558 - Smoking in PublicWHEREAS, the City Council acknowledges that there are studies by the Surgeon General
of the United States, the National Academy of Sciences, and other health organizations which
link passive exposure to tobacco smoke, referred to as secondhand smoke, to a variety of
negative health conditions in non-smokers; and
WHEREAS, the City Council recognizes that the Surgeon General of the United States
has declared that smoking is the number one public health issue of our time; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has found that smoking is a detriment to the economic
health of a business, as well; and
WHEREAS, the City Council recognizes that there is significant evidence that smoking
creates a danger to the health of some residents, and is a cause of annoyance and discomfort to
those who are in confined spaces where tobacco smoke is present; and
WHEREAS, the City Council seeks to strike a reasonable balance between the rights of
individuals to smoke and the rights of individuals to have a smoke-free environment by
regulating smoking in certain public places and places of employment; and
WHEREAS, in order to protect the health and welfare of those residents, as well as to
protect the rights of those individuals who smoke and those individuals who desire a smoke-free
environment, the City Council has found it necessary to restrict smoking in public places except
as authorized herein;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
GEORGETOWN, TEXAS, THAT:
SECTION I.
The facts and recitations contained in the preamble of this ordinance are hereby found and
declared to be true and correct, and are incorporated by reference herein and expressly made a
part hereof, as if copied verbatim.
SECTION II.
The attached Exhibit "A", "Smoking of Tobacco Products in Public Places", is hereby
adopted by the City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas.
SECTION III.
Nothing in this ordinance shall be construed to permit smoking where it is otherwise
prohibited by law or regulation; as prohibiting any employer or person in control of premises
from prohibiting smoking to a greater extent than is prohibited by this ordinance; or, as requiring
structural changes or additions in buildings.
SECTION IV.
If any provision of this ordinance or application thereof to any person or circumstance,
shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the other provisions, or application thereof,
of this ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to
this end the provisions of this ordinance are hereby declared to be severable.
SECTION V.
This ordinance shall become effective and be in full force and effect sixty (60) days from
and after its passage and approval by the City Council and duly signed by the Mayor and attested
by the City Secretary. Publication in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the City
of Georgetown is accordingly so ordained.
PASSED AND APPROVED on First Reading on the 23rd day of October, 1990.
PASSED AND APPROVED on Second and Final Reading on the 13th day of November,
1990,
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Marianne Landers Banks
City Attorney
O I• i
Mayor
ATTEST:
Elizabeth Gray
City Secretary
WILY
SMOKING OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS IN PUBLIC PLACES
A. Definitions,
1. Bar or Cocktail Lounge. Any establishment or place within a restaurant primarily
engaged in the business of dispensing alcoholic or other beverages and where food
is served in the form of a snack or appetizer.
2. Enclosed Area. Any area covered by a roof and surrounded by walls with
appropriate openings of ingress and egress.
3. Health Care Facility. Any office or institution providing individual care or
treatment of human medical, physiological or psychological illness, which
definition shall include but not be limited to hospitals, doctor's offices, nursing
and convalescent homes and senior citizen residential facilities.
4. Person. Any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or
organization of any kind.
5. Place of Employment. 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, employee restrooms,
conference rooms and employee cafeterias. A residence, including a home
occupation, is not considered by this ordinance to be a place of employment.
6. Public Conveyance. Any mass transit vehicle or school bus.
7. Public Meeting. Any gathering or assembly of individuals held in any room or
chamber wherein public, civic or governmental business is conducted and which
is open to the public either as participants or spectators.
8. Public Place. Any enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which the
public is permitted, not including the offices or work areas not entered by the
public in the normal course of business or use of the premises. A residence is not
a public place.
9. Restaurant. Any structure or premises where the principal activity involves the
serving of prepared food with or without alcohol, except where the definition of
bar herein is met, for customers' on -premise or off -premise consumption.
Cafeterias and lunch counters are included in this definition while drive-in eating
establishments are not.
Smoking of Tobacco Products in Public Places -- Exhibit "A"
10. Retail Store. An establishment whose purpose is to offer for sale and sell to
consumers, not for resale, goods, wares, merchandise and food, which items are
purchased for use and/or consumption off the premises.
11. Service Line. A line of persons formed for the securing of a service or product
on a first-come first-served basis.
12. Smokin„. The lighting, holding, carrying of, inhaling and exhaling of the smoke
of a tobacco product, which definition includes but is not limited to the carrying
or holding of a lighted pipe, cigar or cigarette of any kind or any other lighted
smoking equipment or device.
13. Sports Arena. An indoor facility primarily used for sports, cultural or other
similar events,
14, Theater. Any indoor facility primarily used for the exhibition of any motion
picture, stage drama, musical recital, musical concert, dance, lecture or other
similar performance.
15. Tobacco Product. The product derived from the dried leaves of any one of the
various species of Nicotine, including but not limited to the species Nicotine
Tabacum, the broad leafed native American plant, which is utilized for smoking.
Prohibition.
1. Smoking is unlawful in the following public places during the hours in which they
are open to the public:
(a) Art galleries, libraries, museums, and similar cultural facilities.
(b) Classrooms and lecture halls.
(c) Elevators.
(d) Health care facilities.
(e) Public conveyances.
(f) Public meetings.
(g) Public places.
(h) Restaurants.
(i) Retail stores.
0) Taxicabs.
(k) Theaters.
(1) Service lines.
(m) Shopping centers and malls.
(n) Sports arenas.
Smoking of Tobacco Products in Public Places -- Exhibit "A”
In each instance, no -smoking shall be designated by signs posted in conspicuous
locations located at any entrance to and within such areas. Such signs shall be
visible to the public and clearly recite the phrase "No Smoking" and/or use the
international no -smoking symbol.
C. Exemptions.
1. Retail tobacco stores whose primary activity is the sale or promotion of tobacco
and tobacco products and accessories.
2. Enclosed areas of shopping centers and malls that are external to the retail stores
would be no -smoking except for areas that would be designated as smoking areas.
I Smoking as a part of a theatrical production.
4. Designated areas of restaurants, whether currently in existence or to be established
in the future, with an indoor seating capacity of fifty (50) or more where less than
fifty per cent (50%) of the indoor seating capacity is designated as a "Smoking
Area." In areas where smoking is permitted, existing physical barriers and
ventilation systems shall be used in adjacent no -smoking areas. No -smoking and
smoking areas shall be designated by signs visible to the public.
5. Bars or cocktail lounges.
b. Designated areas of health care facilities; each such facility shall designate
separate rooms, including in-patient sleeping quarters, and areas in which smoking
is permitted, using physical barriers and ventilation systems to minimize the
smoke in adjacent no -smoking areas. No -smoking and smoking areas shall be
designated by signs visible to the public.
7. Designated areas of theater lobbies that are physically separate from the spectator
areas. No -smoking and smoking areas shall be designated by signs visible to the
public.
8. Rooms of a restaurant utilized for private functions or banquets.
D, Unlawful,
1. A person commits an offense if he:
(a) knowingly, intentionally or by criminal negligence smokes in an area
designed as prohibited under subsection B;
(b) knowingly, intentionally or by criminal negligence fails to post a no -
smoking area;
Smoking of Tobacco Products in Public Places -- Exhibit "A"
(c} knowingly, intentionally or by criminal negligence fails to post a no -
smoking area sign as required by this ordinance;
(d) knowingly, intentionally or by criminal negligence fails to inform any
person who violates this ordinance, when such duty to inform arises as set
forth in subsection B;
(e) knowingly, intentionally or by criminal negligence destroys or defaces a
sign posted as required by this ordinance;
(f) knowingly, intentionally or by criminal negligence fails to designate no -
smoking and smoking areas as required by this ordinance.
E. Penalty
Violations of this ordinance shall each constitute a separate offense and shall each be
punishable as a class C misdemeanor and shall each be punishable by a fine not to exceed
$200.00 for each day the violation exists.
Smoking of Tobacco Products in Public Places -- Exhibit "A"