Request for Approval of proposed County of Alameda smoking ordinance amendments

Transcription

1 ALAMEDA COUNTY HEALTH CARE SERVICES AGENCY ALEX BRISCOE, Acting Director AGENDA. November 3, 2009 AGENCY ADMIN. & FINANCE October 16, San Leandro Blvd, Suite 300 San Leandro, CA Tel: (510) Fax: (510) The Honorable Board of Supervisors County Administration Building 1221 Oak Street Oakland, Ca Dear Board Members: SUBJECT: Request for Approval of proposed County of Alameda smoking ordinance amendments RECOMMENDATIONS: Approve and adopt proposed County of Alameda smoking ordinance amendments drafted by County Counsel with an effective date of 30 days after Board approval. SUMMARYIDISCUSSIONIFINDINGS: According to recent studies, exposure to secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States. On January 26, 2006, the California Air Resources Board declared secondhand smoke to be a Toxic Air Contaminant. Additionally, the U.S. Surgeon General has declared that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. Secondhand smoke causes 30 times as many lung cancer deaths as all other regulated air pollutants combined. In California, secondhand smoke annually causes 3,600 fatal heart attacks, 400 lung cancer deaths, 31,000 asthma attacks in children, and a 68 percent increase in breast cancer risk for women under the age of 50. It is therefore requested that your Board adopt the following County of Alameda smoking ordinance amendments. First, "Reasonable Distance" means a distance of at least twenty (20) feet from a building to ensure that occupants of the building and those entering and exiting the building are not exposed to secondhand smoke. Secondly, smoke-free service areas are essential to prevent exposure to secondhand smoke. Service Areas are "any area designated to be or regularly used by one or more persons to receive or wait to receive a service, to enter a public place or to make a transaction, whether or not such service includes the exchange of money, including but not limited to, ATMs, bank teller windows, telephones, ticket lines, bus stops, waiting rooms, restrooms, and taxi stands." These proposed amendments were drafted by County Counsel, and would become effective 30 days after Board approval.

2 The Honorable Board of Supervisors Page 2 of2 FINANCING: No fiscal impact is expected on net county cost for approving County of Alameda smoking ordinance amendments. Very truly yours, d6>~ ~~coe, Acting Director Health Care Services Agency AB:am cc: Auditor Controller County Counsel

3 .. ORDINANCE NO. _ AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 6.72 OF TITLE 6 OF THE ORDINANCE CODE OF THE COUNTY OF ALAMEDA RELATING TO SMOKING THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS: SECTION I Amendments Section Findings and declaration of the Ordinance Code of the County of Alameda is amended to add the following paragraph that reads: According to recent studies, exposure to second-hand smoke is the 3rd leading cause of preventable death in the United States, killing over 53,000 non-smokers each year, including 3,000 deaths from lung cancer. Section Definitions of the Ordinance Code of the County of Alameda is amended to modify and add the following definitions, and shall read: "Reasonable distance" means a distance of at least twenty (20) feet to insure that occupants of a building and those entering or exiting the building are not exposed to secondhand smoke created by smokers outside of the building. The determination of the health officer or appropriate designee shall be final in any disputes relating to reasonable distance beyond twenty (20) feet for smoking outside of buildings regulated by this chapter. "Service Area" means any area designated to be or regularly used by one or more persons to receive or wait to receive a service, to enter a public place, or to make a transaction, wh,ether or not such service includes the exchange of money, including but not limited to, ATMs, bank teller windows, telephones, ticket lines, bus stops, waiting rooms, restrooms, and taxi stands. Section Prohibit of Smoking in Public Places of the Ordinance Code of the County of Alameda is amended to read: A. Smoking shall be prohibited in all enclosed public places within the unincorporated areas of Alameda County, including, but not limited to, the following places: 1. All facilities owned or operated by the County of Alameda; 2. Elevators;

4 " 3. Buses, taxicabs, and other means of public transit under the authority of Alameda County, and ticket, boarding and waiting areas of public transit depots, including bus stops; 4. Outdoor areas near any entrance or exit to any facility in which smoking is prohibited. Smokers must maintain a "reasonable distance" of at least twenty (20) feet from all such entrances, exits, windows, ventilation systems or any other means and to ensure that those indoors and those entering or leaving the building are not involuntarily exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke; 5. All service areas and lines, indoor and outdoor; 6. All areas available to and customarily used by the general public in all businesses and nonprofit entities patronized by the public, including but not limited to laundromats, indoor and outdoor dining areas of restaurants, hotels and motels, waiting rooms, hallways; 7. Public areas of aquariums, galleries, libraries, museums, and other exhibits open to the public; 8. Any facility used for exhibiting any motion picture, stage drama, musical recital or other similar performance, except when smoking is part of a stage production; 9. Sports arenas and convention halls; 10. Every room, chamber,place of meeting or public assembly, including school buildings under the control of any board, council, commission, committee, including joint committees, or agencies of the county or any political subdivision of the state to the extent such a place is subject to the jurisdiction of the county; 11. Lobbies, hallways, and other common areas in apartment buildings, condominiums, mobilehome parks, retirement facilities, nursing homes, and other multiple-unit residential facilities; 12. Restrooms, lobbies, hallways, and other common areas in multiple-unit commercial facilities; 13. Polling places; 14. Any other enclosed place open to the general public not regulated under the smoking restrictions in Section of the California Labor Code. B. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment or facility may declare that entire establishment or facility as a nonsmoking establishment. (Ord (part)) Section Reasonable Distance of the Ordinance Code of the County of Alameda is amended to read: Smoking shall occur at a reasonable distance of at least twenty (20) feet outside any enclosed area where smoking is prohibited to ensure that smoke does not enter the area through entrances, windows, ventilation systems or any other means to ensure that those indoors and those entering or leaving the building are not involuntarily exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke. (Ord (part))

5 , SECTION II Effective Date A. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force thirty (30) days from and after the date of passage. B. Before the expiration of fifteen (15) days after its passage, it shall be published once with the names of the members voting for and against the same in the Inter-City Express, a newspaper published in the County of Alameda. Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Alameda, State of California, on, by the following called vote: AYES: NOES: EXCUSED: ALICE LAI BITKER President of the Board of Supervisors County of Alameda, State of California ATTEST: CRYSTAL K. HISHIDA Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, County of Alameda By _ APPROVE AS T~: By -4flJl1 (j {Lu1JA County Counsel Signature