The council makes the following findings:

(a)

Numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution, and that breathing secondhand smoke (also known as environmental tobacco smoke) is a cause of disease in healthy nonsmokers, including heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, and lung cancer. The National Cancer Institute determined in 1999 that secondhand smoke is responsible for the early deaths of more than thirty-eight thousand (38,000) Americans annually.

(b)

The Public Health Service's National Toxicology Program has listed secondhand smoke as a known human carcinogen.

(c)

Secondhand smoke kills two hundred fifty (250) nonsmokers in Marion County each year. In 2002, at least $16.7 million were spent for the hospitalization and health care of Marion County residents with secondhand smoke exposure-caused diseases.

(d)

In Marion County, the rate of lung cancer deaths is approximately fifty (50) percent higher than the national lung cancer mortality rate. The rate of deaths from stroke and the percentage of people diagnosed with asthma are also higher than national averages and can be related to the persistent high prevalence of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke in Marion County.

(e)

Secondhand smoke is particularly hazardous to elderly people, individuals with cardiovascular disease, and individuals with impaired respiratory function, including asthmatics, and those with obstructive airway disease. Children exposed to secondhand smoke have an increased risk of asthma, respiratory infections, sudden infant death syndrome, developmental abnormalities, and cancer.

(f)

The U.S. Surgeon General has determined that the simple separation of smokers and nonsmokers within the same air space may reduce, but does not eliminate, the exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.

(g)

The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that secondhand smoke cannot be reduced to safe levels in businesses by high rates of ventilation. Air cleaners, which are only capable of filtering the particulate matter and odors in smoke, do not eliminate the known toxins in secondhand smoke.

(h)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that the risk of acute myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease associated with exposure to tobacco smoke is nonlinear at low doses, increasing rapidly with relatively small doses such as those received from secondhand smoke or actively smoking one (1) or two (2) cigarettes a day, and has warned that all patients at increased risk of coronary heart disease or with known coronary artery disease should avoid all indoor environments that permit smoking.

(i)

The Americans With Disabilities Act, which requires that disabled persons have access to public places and workplaces, deems impaired respiratory function to be a disability.

(j)

A significant amount of secondhand smoke exposure occurs in the workplace. Employees who work in smoke-filled businesses suffer a twenty-five (25)—fifty (50) percent higher risk of heart attack and higher rates of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as increased acute respiratory disease and measurable decrease in lung function.

(k)

Smoke-filled workplaces result in higher worker absenteeism due to respiratory disease, lower productivity, increased health insurance rates, and increased liability claims for diseases related to exposure to secondhand smoke.

(l)

A study of hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction in Helena, Montana, before, during, and after a local law eliminating smoking in workplaces and public places was in effect, has determined that laws to enforce smoke-free workplaces and public places may be associated with a reduction in morbidity from heart disease.

(m)

Accordingly, the council finds and declares that the purposes of this ordinance are (1) to protect the public health and welfare by prohibiting smoking in public places, and places of employment; and (2) to guarantee 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.

(G.O. 44, 2005, § 1)

The following words and phrases, whenever used in this chapter, shall be construed as defined in this section:

(a)

"Ashtray" means any receptacle that is used for disposing of smoking materials, including, but not limited to, ash and filters.

(b)

"Business" means a sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation, or other business entity, either for-profit or not-for-profit, including, but not limited to, retail establishments where goods or services are provided to the public, and other entities where accounting, counseling, legal, medical, dental, engineering, architectural, or other professional services are delivered.

(c)

"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.

(d)

"Employer" means a person, business, association, municipal corporation, trust, or nonprofit entity that employs the services of one or more individual employees.

(e)

"Enclosed area" means all space closed in by a roof, ceiling, or other overhead covering of any material, and walls or other side coverings of any material on at least two sides with appropriate openings for ingress and egress.

(f)

"Health care facility" means an office or institution providing care or treatment of diseases, whether physical, mental, or emotional, or other medical, physiological, or psychological conditions, including but not limited to, hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals weight control 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. The term "health care facility" shall include all waiting rooms, hallways, private rooms, semi private rooms, and wards within health care facilities.

(g)

"Place of employment" means an area under the control of a public or private employer that employees normally frequent during the course of employment, including, but not limited to, work areas, employee lounges, restrooms, conference rooms, meeting rooms, classrooms, employee cafeterias, hallways, and vehicles.

(h)

"Public park" means property that is owned, leased, or operated by the city or county, or any of their offices, agencies or departments, that is used for any of the following: recreational facilities, athletic or recreational fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, swimming pools, bike paths, walking or hiking trails, wildlife and natural preserves, greenways, parks, dog parks, skate parks, amphitheaters, and any other similar uses, and including related buildings, facilities and improvements, together with parking lots, roadways, sidewalks and walkways abutting or adjoining the same. The term "public park" does not include: (i) city or county-owned golf courses and golf driving ranges; or (ii) property that is subject to a lease with the city or county where the city or county is the lessor and the term of the lease is greater than five (5) years.

(i)

"Public place" means an enclosed area, whether owned publicly or privately, to which the public is invited or in which the public is permitted.

(j)

"Retail tobacco store" means a retail store:

(1)

Utilized primarily for the sale of tobacco and tobacco-related products including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars, tobacco, pipes, cigarette paper, and lighters;

(2)

That is not licensed for the consumption of meals or alcoholic beverages on the premises or operated in conjunction with another business that is licensed for the on-premises consumption of meals or alcoholic beverages; and

(3)

In which the sale of tobacco and tobacco-related products accounts for not less than eighty-five (85) percent of the store's gross sales.

"Retail tobacco store" does not include a tobacco department of a larger commercial establishment such as a grocery store, department store, discount store or hotel.

(k)

"Shopping mall" means an enclosed public walkway or hall area that serves to connect retail or professional establishments.

(l)

"Smoking" means the carrying or holding of a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe, or any other lighted smoking equipment, the use of an electronic cigarette (also known as an e-cigarette), or the inhalation or exhalation of smoke from any lighted smoking equipment. "Smoking" does not include the burning of incense.

(m)

"Sports arena" means sports pavilions, stadiums, athletic fields, gymnasiums, health spas, boxing arenas, swimming pools, roller and ice rinks, bowling alleys, and other similar places where members of the general public assemble to engage in physical exercise or recreation, participate in athletic competition, or witness sports or other events.

(G.O. 44, 2005, § 1; G.O. 12, 2012, § 1; G.O. 16, 2021, § 1)