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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"