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HomeMy Public PortalAbout087-2007 - General Ordinance repealing & reenacting Chapter 124 of the Code (Smoking)DEFEATED ORDINANCE NO. 87-2007 A GENERAL ORDINANCE TO REPEAL CHAPTER 124 ENTITLED: ENVIRONMENTAL TOBACCO SMOKE IN PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS AND REENACT IT WITH THE TITLE: SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES WHEREAS, I.C. 36-8-2-4 authorizes municipalities to regulate conduct that may endanger the public health, safety, or welfare; and WHEREAS, numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution, and that breathing secondhand smoke is a cause of disease in healthy nonsmokers, including heart disease, respiratory disease, and lung cancer; and WHEREAS, people at special risk are children, the elderly, individuals with cardiovascular disease or impaired respiratory function, including asthmatics, and those with obstructive airway disease; and WHEREAS, health hazards induced by breathing secondhand smoke include lung cancer, heart disease, respiratory infection, decreased respiratory function, and bronchospasm; and WHEREAS, there is a clear and present health and safety risk posed to all employees and patrons of facilities owned and operated in the City of Richmond by the smoking of cigarettes, cigars, pipes or any other tobacco product; and WHEREAS, it is determined that it is in the best interest of the public health, safety and welfare to regulate smoking activity in the City of Richmond, while balancing the needs and desires of businesses, employers, smokers and non-smokers; and WHEREAS, the City of Richmond Common Council finds and declares that the purposes of this chapter are: 1) to protect the public health and welfare by prohibiting smoking in public places; and 2) to promote the right of nonsmokers to breathe smoke -free air and to recognize that the need to breathe smoke -free air shall have priority over the desire to smoke; and WHEREAS, The 2006 U.S. Surgeon General's Report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, has concluded that (1) secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke; (2) children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory problems, ear infections, and asthma attacks, and that. smoking by parents causes respiratory symptoms and slows lung growth in their children; (3) exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer; (4) there is no risk -free level of exposure to secondhand smoke; (5) establishing smoke -free workplaces is the only effective way to ensure that secondhand smoke exposure does not occur in the workplace, because ventilation and other air cleaning technologies cannot completely control for exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke; and (6) evidence from peer -reviewed studies shows that smoke - free policies and laws do not have an adverse economic impact on the hospitality industry. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006.); and WHEREAS, the existing Richmond City Code chapter 124 should be repealed because new chapter will cover the signage prohibition language that is contained in the existing chapter; and NOW, THEREFORE, be it ordained by the Common Council of the City of Richmond that: Section 1: The existing chapter 124 of the Richmond City Code shall be repealed. Section 2: A new chapter 124 of the Richmond City Code is enacted as follows: SECTION 124.01 Definitions. 124.02 Application of Chapter to City -Owned Facilities. 124.03 Smoking Prohibited in Public Places. 124.04 Posting of Signs; Removal of Smoking Paraphernalia. 124.05 Enforcement. 124.06 Penalties. 124.07 Non -retaliation. 124.08 Public Education. 124.09 Other Applicable Laws. 124.10 Severability. 124.11 Effective. Sec.124.01. Definitions As used in this Chapter, the following have the following meanings unless otherwise designated: (a) "Enclosed Area" or "Enclosed" means all space between a floor and ceiling which is enclosed on all sides by solid walls or windows (exclusive of doors or passage ways),which extend from the floor to the ceiling, including all space screened by partitions which do not extend to the ceiling or are not solid, "office landscaping", or similar structures. (b) "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization of any kind. (c) "Public place" means any enclosed area used by the general public, including public transportation facilities of the City of Richmond, libraries, museums, restaurants, theaters and waiting rooms. (d) "Restaurant" means any establishment in which both adults and minors under twenty-one (21) years of age are permitted to enter and the establishment is used as or held out to the public as having food available for payment to be consumed on the premises, including, but not limited to, coffee shops, cafeterias, cafes, private and public school cafeteria, and luncheonettes sandwich stands and soda fountains, but excluding an establishment that has total annual sales of food sold for on -premises consumption of twenty percent (20%) or less of the combined Bross sales of the establishment. The term The term "restaurant" shall include eating establishments where a liquor bar is located within the indoor and enclosed area of the establishment, regardless of physical partitions. The term "restaurant" shall not include bars of an eating establishment that are completely and exclusively separated from the restaurant portion of the establishment and require a separate outdoor entrance and in which minors under the age of twenty-one (21) years of age are not permitted to enter. The term "restaurant" shall not include establishments which are used, or held out to the public, primarily as on -the -premises drinking establishments where liquor is consumed, such as, but not limited to, bar, pubs and cocktail lounges, and where minors under the age of twenty-one (21) years of age are not permitted to enter. (e) "Smoke" or "smoking" means the act of puffing, having in one's possession, holding or carrying a lighted or smoldering cigar, cigarette, pipe, or smoking equipment of any kind, or lighting a cigar, cigarette, pipe or smoking equipment of any kind. (f) "Theater" means any enclosed facility, open to the public, which is primarily used for or designed for the purpose of exhibiting any motion picture, stage drama, musical recital, dance, lecture or other similar performance. Sec. 124.02 Application of Chapter to City -Owned Facilities All enclosed facilities, or enclosed areas, including buildings owned, leased, or operated by the City of Richmond, Indiana, including any department or entity of the City of Richmond, Indiana, shall be subject to the provisions of this Chapter. This ordinance shall also apply to the entire campus of the City Building of Richmond, Indiana, including, but not limited to, areas outside the building, the grassy areas and the parking lots, up to Main Street, South Fifth Street, North "A" Street and South Third Street (or U.S. 40 East the west side of the City Building). This ordinance shall also be in effect for the sidewalks on both the east side and west side of South Fourth Street between South "A" Street and Main Street, Richmond, Indiana. Sec. 124.03 Smoking Prohibited in Public Places. (a) Smoking shall be prohibited in the following public places and other public places similarly situated, including, but not limited to, the following areas: (1) Libraries, and museums. (2) Elevators. (3) Facilities primarily used for exhibiting a motion picture, stage, drama, lecture, musical recital, or other similar performance. (4) Public transportation facilities, including buses and taxicabs, under the authority of the City of Richmond and ticket, boarding, and waiting areas of public transit depots. (5) Restaurants. (6) 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 Richmond 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 Richmond. (b) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, any owner, operator, r� manager or other person i ontrol, of an, establishment, facility, or outdoor area mays; - - ---- declare that entire establishment facility orout_door-areas a nonsmoking establishment facility or outdoor area. _Smoking shall be prohibited in anyplace in which is posted a Deleted: who Deleted:s Deleted:y Deleted: or Deleted: Deleted: or Deleted: sign conforming to the requirements of Section 124.(5. Any —person who violates the moking nonsprovision by_ an owner operator manager or other person in control of an establishment. facilitv or outdoor area is subiect to the enforcement and benalties set forth in Chapter 124. Sec. 124.04 Posting of Sims; Removal of Smoking Paraphernalia. (a) "No Smoking" signs or the international No Smoking symbol (consisting of a pictorial representation of a burning cigarette enclosed in a red circle with a red bar across it) shall be clearly, sufficiently and conspicuously posted in every building or other area where smoking is prohibited by this chapter by the owner, operator, manager or other person having control of such building or other area. (b) Every public place where smoking is prohibited by this chapter shall have posted at every entrance a conspicuous sign clearly stating that smoking is prohibited. (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 such area. (d) Any public place or place of employment exempted from this chapter shall clearly and conspicuously post the following sign at every entrance: "Warning: Tobacco Smoke May Be Present." Sec.124.05 Enforcement. (a) The City shall seek to gain voluntary compliance with this chapter by means of publicity and education programs, and the issuance of warnings, where appropriate. (b) Citations shall be issued by any sworn member of the Richmond Police Department or by sworn members of the Richmond Fire Department as designated by the Richmond Fire Chief. (c) Any citizen who desires to register a complaint under this chapter may initiate enforcement with the Richmond Police Department. (d) Upon finding that any provision of this chapter has been violated, a violation citation will be issued to the person or persons responsible for the violation. (e) The Department of Metropolitan Development shall be the City department that determines whether or not a restaurant has total annual sales of food sold for on -premises consumption of twenty percent 20%) or less of the combined gross sales of the establishment. The Department shall develop policies to monitor and enforce this requirement. Sec.124.06 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 bye - - - Deleted: a fine not exceeding fifty dollars ($50) (1) A fine not exceeding $50.00 for a first violation. (2) A fine not exceeding $100.00 for a second violation within one calendar year. (3) A fine not exceeding $250.00 for a third violation within one calendar year. (b) A person who owns, manages, operates, or otherwise controls a public place and who fails to comply with the provisions of this Chapter shall be guilty of an infraction, punishable by: (1) A fine of fifty dollars ($50) for a first violation. (2) A fine of one hundred dollars ($100) for a second violation within one (1) calendar year. (3) A fine of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for each additional violation within one (1) calendar year. (c) Each day on which a violation of this Chapter occurs shall be considered a separate and distinct violation. (d) A restaurant, or the owner thereof, that refuses or fails, when requested to document whether or not an establishment has total annual sales of food sold for on -premises consumption of twenty percent 20%) or less shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $100.00 for a first violation and two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) for each subsequent violation. (e) All penalties shall be processed through the ordinance violations bureau by the City Clerks Office. If, after multiple violations by the same person or at the same business, the City legal and law enforcement departments have reason to believe that the fines will not be effective in enforcing this chapter, then the City legal department shall be empowered to seek any other remedies provided by law. Sec.124.07 Non -retaliation. No person or employers shall discharge, refuse to hire or in any manner retaliate against any employee, applicant for employment, or customer because such employee, applicant, or customer exercises any right to a smoke -free environment afforded by this Ordinance. Sec. 124.08 Public Education. The City may engage in programs to explain and clarify the purposes and requirements of this chapter to citizens affected by it, and to guide owners, operators, and managers in their compliance with it. Such programs may include publication of a brochure for affected businesses and individuals explaining the provisions of this chapter. Sec. 124.09 Other Applicable Laws. This Chapter shall not be interpreted or construed to permit smoking where it is otherwise restricted by other applicable laws. Sec.124.10 Severabilitv. If any section or sentence or provision of this Ordinance, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid, such invalidity shall not affect any of the other sections, sentences, provisions or application of this ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end, the provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable. Sec. 124.11 Effective Date This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect on November 1, 2008. Passed and adopted this day of the City of Richmond, Indiana. ATTEST: , City Clerk (Karen Chasteen) 2008, by the Common Council of (Larry Parker) PRESENTED to the Mayor of the City of Richmond, Indiana, this , 2008, at 9:00 a.m. (Karen Chasteen) President day of City Clerk APPROVED by me, Sarah L. Hutton, Mayor of the City of Richmond, Indiana, this day of , 2008, at 9:05 a.m. (Sarah L. Hutton) ATTEST: , City Clerk (Karen Chasteen) Mayor