AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SHREVEPORT AMENDING ______________ OF THE CITY OF SHREVEPORT TO STRENGTHEN THE RESTRICTIONS ON SMOKING TOBACCO IN PUBLIC PLACES AND PLACES OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND PURCHASING AND POSSESSION OF TOBACCO BY MINORS.

WHEREAS, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined that tobacco smoke is the major contributor of particulate indoor air pollution; and

WHEREAS, reliable studies have shown that breathing side stream or secondhand smoke is a significant health hazard, in particular for elderly people, individuals with cardiovascular disease, and individuals with impaired respiratory function; including asthmatics and those with obstructive airway disease; and

WHEREAS, health hazards induced include buy breathing side stream or secondhand smoke produce heart disease, lung cancer, respiratory infection, decreased exercise tolerance, decreased respiratory function, bronchoconstriction, and bronchospasm; and

WHEREAS, non-smokers with allergies, respiratory diseases and those who suffer other ill effects of breathing side stream or secondhand smoke may experience a loss of job productivity or may be forced to take periodic sick leave because of adverse reactions to same; and

WHEREAS, the smoking of tobacco, or any other weed or plant, is a danger to health; and

WHEREAS, the health care costs and lost productivity incurred by smoking-related disease and death represent a heavy and unavoidable financial drain on our community; and

WHEREAS, the free distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products encourages people to begin smoking and using tobacco products, and tempts those who had quit smoking to begin smoking again; and

WHEREAS, free distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products promotes unsightly litter, thereby increasing the costs to the public in cleaning the streets; and also causes pedestrian traffic congestion; and

WHEREAS, the compelling purpose and intent of this division includes the general promotion of the health, safety, and welfare of all people in the community against the health hazards and harmful effects of the use of addictive tobacco products; and

WHEREAS, the City Council desires to strengthen the current restrictions on smoking in public places and places open to the public, and on the distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products and the possession of tobacco products by minors.

NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Shreveport DOES ORDAIN as follows:

Section ____ . Chapter _____ of the City of Shreveport Code is amended to read as follows:

Chapter _____

SMOKING AND TOBACCO PRODUCTS

Section 1.1. Definitions.

The following words and phrases, whenever used in this Chapter, shall be construed as hereafter set out, unless it is apparent from the context that a different meaning is clearly intended:

A. "Adult Entertainment Establishment" shall mean any nightclub, cabaret or similar commercial establishment which is (1) open only to and excludes minors by reason of age and (2) regularly features live performances by dancers or other entertainers who appear in a state of nudity or otherwise expose to the public exhibition specified anatomical areas;

B. "Area Open to the Public" shall mean any area available to and customarily used by the general public;

C. "Bar" shall mean any premises designed, used or intended to be used for the selling or serving of alcoholic beverages to the public for consumption on the premises and shall include any restaurant that serves alcoholic beverages and in which the service of food may be only incidental to the consumption of such beverages. The bar shall provide (1) the eating area completely separated from the bar as described in Section 1.5 of this Chapter; or (2) the bar and restaurant are provided with completely separate heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC) designed to exhaust air from the bar, where smoking is allowed, to the outside and any recirculated air in the bar and such contaminated air is removed from the premises as described in Section 1.5 of this Chapter and that the patrons in the restaurant are not exposed to breathing side stream or secondhand smoke and that the patrons are not required to enter the restaurant by passing through the bar to enter the restaurant. Employees of such bar and bar/restaurant shall not smoke while working whether the patrons of the bar or bar/restaurant are smoking. Smoking is prohibited by any person near food storage or food and drink preparation. This provision provides for the health and safety of both employees and patrons.

D. "Distribute" means to give, sell, deliver, issue, or cause or hire any person to give, sell, deliver, dispense, issue or offer to give, sell , deliver, dispense, or issue;

E. "Employee" means any person who is employed by any employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages or other compensation;

F. "Employer" means any person, partnership, cooperation, including municipal corporation or public entities, who employs the services of two or more persons or two or more people conducting business within the establishment;

G. "Enclosed" means covered by a roof and not necessarily walls;

H. "General Public" shall mean shoppers, customers, patrons, patients, students, clients, and other similar invitees of a commercial enterprise or non-profit entity;

I. "Place of Employment" means any enclosed area under the control of a public or private employer which employees normally frequent during employment, including but not limited to, work areas, employee lounges, conference rooms, and employee cafeterias. Private residences are not places of employment unless it is used as a child care, day care, health care, or similar facility. Bars and adult entertainment establishments are not places of employment for the purposes of this chapter;

J. "Restaurant" means any dinner house, coffee shop, cafeteria, luncheonette, soda fountain, fast food service, and other establishment where cooked or otherwise prepared food is sold to the public for consumption on the premises. The term does not include a cafeteria or lunchroom defined as a "Place of Employment" by part "I" of this Section.

K. "Smoking" means the carrying or holding of lighted pipe, cigar, or cigarette of any kind, or any other lighted smoking equipment or the lighting or emitting or exhaling the smoke of a pipe, cigar, or cigarette of any kind;

L. "Specified Anatomical Areas" means (1) less than completely and opaquely covered: (a) human genitals, pubic region; (b) buttock; and (c) female breast below a point immediately above the top of the aureole; and (2) human male genitals in a discernibly lurid state, even if completely and opaquely covered;

M. "Arena" means sports pavilions, gymnasiums, health spas, boxing arenas, swimming pools, roller and ice rinks, bowling centers, halls, and other similar places where members of the public assemble to engage in physical exercise, participate in athletic competition, witness sports events, engage in or witness cultural or musical performances, or any other type of performances, exhibition, shows, demonstrations or pageants.

N. "Vending Machine" means an electronic-electromechanical device or appliance, upon which the operation depends on the insertion of money, whether in coin or paper bill, or other thing representative of value, or operated by an attendant who receives payment, which dispenses or releases a tobacco product or products and/or tobacco accessories;

Section 1.2. City-Owned Facilities.

Smoking is prohibited in and around all buildings, vehicles, or other enclosed areas occupied by City employees, owned or leased by the City or otherwise operated by the city.

Section 1.3. Prohibition of Smoking in Enclosed Places.

Smoking is prohibited in the following places within the City of Shreveport:

A. All enclosed areas available to and customarily used by the general public and all business patronized by the public, including but not limited to, retail stores, the common areas of hotels and motels, pharmacies, banks, shoping malls, grocery stores and other offices;

B. All restaurants except in a bar. The owner, manager, or operator of the restaurant shall post signs as prescribed by Section 1.6. and remove all ashtrays from tables;

C. Waiting rooms, hallways, wards, and semi-private rooms of health facilities, including but not limited to hospitals, clinics, physical therapy facilities, doctors' offices, and subject to provisions of employment;

D. Elevators, public rest rooms, indoor services lines, buses, taxicabs and other means of public transit under the authority of public entities, and in ticket, boarding, and waiting areas of public transit depot;

E. In public area of museums and galleries;

F. Theaters, auditoriums, concert facilities and halls that are used for motion pictures, stage dramas and musical performances, ballets or other exhibitions, both indoor and outdoor, except when smoking is part of the production, provided however that the production is outdoors.

G. Retail food marketing establishments, including grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, food marts, package stores, and gasoline service station marts which sell food;

H. All public schools and other public facilities under the control of another public agency, which are available to and customarily used by the general public, to the extent that the same are subject to the jurisdiction of the City;

I. Sports arenas, both indoor and outdoor, and convention halls;

J. Private residences when used as child care, day care, health care or other similar facilities. Board and care facilities shall provide completely smoke-free living quarters for non-smoking boarders. Smoking boarders must be kept in separate quarters presumably in a separate building, so that there is no possible way non-smokers' air can be contaminated by smoke.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, any owner, operator, manager, or person who controls any establishment described in this section is compelled to declare that entire establishment as a non-smoking establishment.

Section 1.4. Regulation of Smoking in Places of Employment.

A. Smoking is prohibited in any and all places of employment, including, but not limited to, open office areas, shared offices and offices occupied by employees performing clerical, technical, administrative or other business or work functions; and, conference and meeting rooms, classrooms, auditoriums, rest rooms, medical facilities, hallways, and elevators;

B. The provisions of this Chapter shall be communicated to all employees within three days of adoption of the ordinance adopting this Chapter, and at least every 90 days thereafter;

C. In places of employment, employers may provide specific smoking areas for employees provided all the following conditions are met:

(1) The smoking area is provided with a positive draft ventilating system (HVAC) of such design as to not allow any smoke into the air shared by other employees or the general public. This positive draft ventilating system will not be compromised in any way so as to provide a higher comfort index for the smokers if this compromise allows smoke to be recirculated into the non-smoking area;

(2) The smoking area is completely separated from the remainder of the building by solid partitions or glazing without the possibility of openings. No doors can be shared by the smoking and non-smoking areas. The smoking area cannot be outside an open door leading to the non-smoking area to allow the entry of smoke into the non-smoking area. Smoking areas outside any place of employment must be 50 feet or more from any opening in a building described in these Sections for the use of employment. These openings include, but are not limited to, windows, doors. ventilating ducts, skylights used for ventilation, or service counters;

(3) The smoking areas shall maintain a minimum negative pressure (de-pressurization) of 0.005 inches of water column relative to the outside of the building, or maintain an opening, not a door, in the building of at least 15 per cent of the vertical surface area of the walls of the smoking area.

(4) The employer shall submit written verification and test results to the City Engineer or his/her designee prepared by a licensed mechanical contractor or engineer that the HVAC system has been designed and tested and meets the requirements set forth in subsections (1) through (3) above;

(5) If the HVAC system is part of the smoke removal system or de-pressurization system, any modifications to these systems to provide smoking areas will require approval from the City of Shreveport Fire Department. Written verification of this approval shall be provided to the City Clerk;

(6) Non-smoking areas have priority over smoking areas for use by employees. If a specific smoking area is an employee break room, lunch room, or other area that must be used by non-smoking employees for the same purposes, then a separate non-smoking area must be maintained of equal or larger size for smokers with equal facilities and access.

Section 1.5. Optional Smoking Areas.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Chapter to the contrary, the following areas shall not be subject to the smoking restrictions of this Chapter provided that these variances comply to the following ventilation practice to wit: The smoking areas shall maintain a minimum negative pressure (de pressurization) of 0.005 inches of water column relative to the outside of the building, or maintain an opening, not a door, in the building of at least 15 per cent of the vertical surface area of the walls of the smoking area.

A. Private residences, except that the smoking restrictions of this Chapter shall apply during normal working hours to any residence used as a place of employment;

B. Adult entertainment establishments;

C. Bars, except provided otherwise in this Chapter;

D. Hotel and Motel rooms rented to guests, provided, however, that each hotel and motel designate not less than 60 per cent of the guest rooms as non-smoking rooms and remove ashtrays from these rooms. These rooms for non-smoking must not be used for smoking guests at any time past or present. The rooms for non-smokers must be kept pristine for non-smoking guests.

Section 1.6. Posting Requirements.

A. "No Smoking" signs with letters of not less than one inch in height or the international "No Smoking" symbol (consisting of a pictorial representation of a burning cigarette enclosed on a red circle with a red bar across it) shall be clearly, sufficiently, and conspicuously posted in every building or other place where smoking is controlled by this division, by the owner, operator, manager, or other person having control of such building or other place. A red sign 9 inches high and 12 inches wide, with white letters of not less than one inch in height stating 'NO SMOKING IN FOOD STORES' and white letters 1/2 inch in height stating 'City of Shreveport Ordinance ___' shall be placed at shoulder height on every public entrance door of every food store. Where smoking is permitted, a sign shall be placed which warns persons that smoking is permitted in this space;

B. Every hotel or motel regulated by this division will have posted at its entrance a sign clearly stating that no-smoking rooms are available.

Section 1.7. Vending machines.

Coin operated vending machines that are intended for the distribution of tobacco products for what ever reason must be removed from all areas accessible to the general public and employees. This does not include private residences. Tobacco product vending machines are prohibited in the City of Shreveport.

Section 1.8. Distribution of Free Samples and Coupons.

A. No person, agent, employee, firm, association, or corporation shall distribute, or direct, authorize, or permit any agent or employee to distribute, (1) any cigarette or other tobacco or smoking product, including any smokeless tobacco product, or (2) coupons, certificates, or other written material which may be redeemed for tobacco products with or without charge, to any person on any public street or sidewalk or in any public park or playground or on any other public ground or in any public building;

B. For purposes of this section, "public ground" and "public building" include sports arenas as defined in Section 1.1, and for any entertainment facility whether enclosed or not, whether publicly or privately owned, and whether admission is charged or not.

Section 1.9. Out of Package Sales.

No person shall sell or offer for sale cigarettes or smokeless tobacco not in the original packaging provided by the manufacturer.

Section 1.10. Possession by minors.

A. All persons under the age of 18 years shall not posses any tobacco products. This provision is meant to curtail the use of tobacco by minors and introduction of tobacco to minors. Although minors are restricted from purchasing tobacco products, an ordinance to restrict possession extends the protection that must be afforded to minors from tobacco use. Violation of this section is an offense punishable pursuant to Section _____ of this Code.

Section 1.11. Schools and tobacco.

A. No person or business or animal or picketor shall display any advertisement or sign or any other device that shows the sale of tobacco, or the use of tobacco, or advertisement of related products or services in affiliation of tobacco and its use visible from any school.

B. Any business within 1000 feet of a school shall not display tobacco products to the public inside or outside the premises. These businesses may, however, display only prices of these tobacco products inside the premises so long as the display is not visible from the school in accordance with Section 1.11.A. These displays cannot display logos or images, they must be words and numerals only.

Section 1.12. Enforcement.

A. Administration of this chapter shall be by the ______________________ or his /her designee;

B. Any citizen who desires to register a complaint may initiate enforcement consideration with the designee;

C. Any owner, manager, operator or employer of any establishment controlled by this division may inform persons violating this division of the appropriate provisions thereof.

Section 1.13. Penalties.

A. Unless otherwise specifically provided to the contrary, the violation of any provision of this Chapter by any person who owns, manages, operates, or otherwise controls the use of any premises subject to the restrictions of this section is an offense punishable pursuant to Section _____ of this Code;

B. It is unlawful for any person to smoke in any areas restricted by the provisions of this section. Violation of this section is an offense punishable pursuant to Section _____ of this Code.

Section 1.14. Non retaliation.

No person or employee shall discharge, refuse to hire, or in any manner retaliate against any employee or applicant for employment because such employee or applicant exercises any rights afforded by this division. Violation of this section is a misdemeanor punishable according to Section _____ of this Code.

Section 1.15. Other Applicable Laws.

This division shall not be interpreted or construed to permit smoking where it is otherwise restricted by other applicable laws.

Section 1.16. Severability.

If any provision or clause of this Chapter of the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held to be unconstitutional or to be otherwise invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall affect other provisions, clauses or applications thereof which can be implemented without the invalid provision, clause or application, and to this end the provisions and clauses of this ordinance are declared to be severe able.

Section 2. This ordinance shall be codified.

Section 3. The City of Shreveport is hereby directed to publish this ordinance once within fifteen days after its passage in the _______________________, a newspaper of general circulation published in the City of Shreveport.

Section 4. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force on the thirtieth (30th) day from and after its final passage.

END