AN ACT Relating to smoking; adding new chapters to Title 70 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON: PART I

WASHINGTON CLEAN INDOOR AIR ACT

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature recognizes the increasing evidence that tobacco smoke in closely confined places creates a danger to the health of citizens of this state. In order to protect the health and welfare of those citizens, it is necessary to prohibit smoking in public places except in areas designated as smoking areas.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. As used in this chapter, the following terms have the meanings indicated unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

(1) "Smoke" or "smoking" means the carrying or smoking of any kind of lighted pipe, cigar, cigarette, or any other lighted smoking equipment.

(2) "Public place" means that portion of any building or vehicle used by and open to the public, regardless of whether the building or vehicle is owned in whole or in part by private persons or entities, the state of Washington, or other public entity, and regardless of whether a fee is charged for admission.

Public places include, but are not limited to: Elevators, public conveyances or transportation facilities, museums, concert halls, theaters, auditoriums, exhibition halls, indoor sports arenas, hospitals, nursing homes, health care facilities or clinics, enclosed shopping centers, retail stores, retail service establishments, financial institutions, educational facilities, ticket areas, public hearing facilities, public restrooms, libraries, restaurants, waiting areas, lobbies, and reception areas. A public place does not include a private residence. This chapter is not intended to restrict smoking in private facilities which are occasionally open to the public except upon the occasions when the facility is open to the public.

(3) "Restaurant" means any building, structure, or area used, maintained, or advertised as, or held out to the public to be, an enclosure where meals are made available to be consumed on the premises, for consideration of payment.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. No person may smoke in a public place except in designated smoking areas.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) A smoking area may be designated in a public place by the owner or, in the case of a leased or rented space, the lessee, or other person in charge except in:

(a) Elevators; buses, except for private hire; streetcars; taxis, except those clearly and visibly designated by the owner to permit smoking; public areas of retail stores and lobbies of financial institutions; office reception areas and waiting rooms of any building owned or leased by the state of Washington or by any city, county, or other municipality in the state of Washington; museums; public meetings or hearings; classrooms and lecture halls of schools, colleges, and universities; and the seating areas and aisle ways which are contiguous to seating areas of concert halls, theaters, auditoriums, exhibition halls, and indoor sports arenas;

(b) Hallways and waiting rooms of health care facilities and lobbies of concert halls, theaters, auditoriums, exhibition halls, and indoor sports arenas, if the area is not physically separated and does not have a separate ventilation system from the nonsmoking portions of the building. Owners or other persons in charge are not required to incur any expense to make structural or other physical modifications in providing these areas; and

Except as provided in other provisions of this chapter, no public place, other than a bar, tobacco shop, or restaurant, may be designated as a smoking area in its entirety. If a bar, tobacco shop, or restaurant is designated as a smoking area in its entirety, this designation shall be posted conspicuously on all entrances normally used by the public.

(2) Where smoking areas are designated, existing physical barriers and ventilation systems shall be used to minimize the toxic effect of smoke in adjacent nonsmoking areas.

(3) Managers of restaurants who choose to provide smoking areas shall designate an adequate amount of seating to meet the demands of restaurant patrons who wish to smoke. Owners of restaurants are not required to incur any expense to make structural or other physical modifications in providing these areas. Restaurant patrons shall be informed orally or by at least one conspicuous sign that separate smoking and nonsmoking sections are available.

(4) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a facility or area may be designated in its entirety as a nonsmoking area by the owner or other person in charge.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Owners or, in the case of a leased or rented space, the lessee, or other person in charge of a place regulated under this chapter shall make every reasonable effort to prohibit smoking in public places by posting signs prohibiting or permitting smoking as appropriate under this chapter. Signs shall be posted conspicuously at each building entrance. In the case of retail stores and retail service establishments signs shall be posted conspicuously at each entrance and in prominent locations throughout the place. The boundary between a nonsmoking area and a smoking permitted area shall be clearly designated so that persons may differentiate between the two areas.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1) Any person intentionally violating this chapter by smoking in a public place not designated as a smoking area or any person removing, defacing, or destroying a sign required by this chapter is subject to a civil fine of up to one hundred dollars. Local law enforcement agencies shall enforce this section by issuing citations to be assessed in the same manner as traffic infractions.

(2) When violations of section 4 or 5 of this act occur, a warning shall first be given to the owner or other person in charge. Any subsequent violation is subject to a civil fine of up to one hundred dollars. Each day upon which a violation occurs or is permitted to continue constitutes a separate violation.

(3) Local fire departments or fire districts shall enforce section 4 or 5 of this act regarding the duties of owners or persons in control of public places, and local health departments shall enforce section 4 or 5 of this act regarding the duties of owners of restaurants by either of the following actions:

(a) Serving notice requiring the correction of any violation; or

(b) Calling upon the city or town attorney or county prosecutor to maintain an action for an injunction to enforce sections 4 and 5 of this act, to correct a violation, and to assess and recover a civil penalty for the violation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Any penalty assessed and recovered in an action brought under this chapter shall be paid to the city or county bringing the action.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Local fire departments or fire districts and local health departments may adopt regulations as required to implement this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. This chapter shall be known as the Washington clean indoor air act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. Sections 1 through 9 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW. PART II

SMOKING POLLUTION CONTROL ACT

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. This chapter shall be known as the smoking pollution control act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. (1) Because the smoking of tobacco or any other weed or plant is a danger to health and is a cause of material annoyance and discomfort to those who are present in confined places, the legislature declares that the purposes of this chapter are (a) to protect the public health and welfare by regulating smoking in the office workplace and (b) to minimize the toxic effects of smoking in the office workplace by requiring an employer to adopt a policy that will accommodate, insofar as possible, the preferences of nonsmokers and smokers and, if a satisfactory accommodation cannot be reached, to prohibit smoking in the office workplace.

(2) This chapter is not intended to create any right to smoke or to impair or alter an employer's prerogative to prohibit smoking in the workplace. Rather, if an employer allows employees to smoke in the workplace, then this chapter requires (a) that the employer make accommodations for the preferences of both nonsmoking and smoking employees, and (b) if a satisfactory accommodation to all affected nonsmoking employees cannot be reached, that the employer prohibit smoking in that office workplace where nonsmokers may be affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. Unless the context clearly requires to the contrary, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter:

(1) "Person" means any individual person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, organization, or legal entity of any kind.

(2) "Employer" means any person who employs the services of an individual person.

(3) "Employee" means any person who is employed by any employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit.

(4) "Office workplace" means any enclosed area of a structure or portion thereof intended for occupancy by business entities which provide primarily clerical, professional, or business services of the business entity, or which provide primarily clerical, professional, or business services to other business entities or to the public, at that location. Office workplace includes, but is not limited to, office spaces in: Office buildings, medical office waiting rooms, libraries, museums, hospitals, and nursing homes.

(5) "Smoking" or "to smoke" means and includes inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted smoking equipment for tobacco or any other weed or plant.

(6) "Enclosed" means closed-in by a roof and four walls with appropriate openings for ingress and egress and is not intended to mean areas commonly described as public lobbies.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. (1) Each employer who operates an office or offices in this state shall within three months of the effective date of this act adopt, implement, and maintain a written smoking policy that contains, at a minimum, the following provisions and requirements:

(a) Any nonsmoking employee may object to the employer about smoke in the workplace. Using already available means of ventilation or separation or partition of office space, the employer shall attempt to reach a reasonable accommodation, insofar as possible, between the preferences of nonsmoking and smoking employees. However, neither an employer nor a building owner is required by this chapter to make any expenditures or structural changes to accommodate the preferences of nonsmoking or smoking employees.

(b) If an accommodation that is satisfactory to all affected nonsmoking employees cannot be reached in any given office workplace, the preferences of nonsmoking employees shall prevail and the employer shall prohibit smoking in that office workplace where nonsmokers may be affected. If the employer prohibits smoking in an office workplace, the area in which smoking is prohibited shall be clearly marked with signs.

(2) The smoking policy shall be announced within three weeks of adoption to all employees working in office workplaces in the state and posted conspicuously in all workplaces under the employer's jurisdiction.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 15. This chapter is not intended to regulate smoking in the following places and under the following conditions:

(1) A private home that may serve as an office workplace;

(2) Office space leased or rented by a sole independent contractor;

(3) A private enclosed office workplace occupied exclusively by smokers, even though such an office workplace may be visited by nonsmokers, excepting places in which smoking is prohibited by the state fire marshal or by other law, ordinance, or regulation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 16. (1) The director of the department of labor and industries shall enforce section 14 of this act against violations by either of the following actions:

(a) Serving notice requiring the correction of any violation of this chapter;

(b) Calling upon the county prosecuting attorney to maintain an action for injunction to enforce this chapter, to cause the correction of any such violation, and for assessment and recovery of a civil penalty for the violation.

(2) An employer who violates section 14 of this act is liable for a civil penalty, not to exceed five hundred dollars, which penalty shall be assessed and recovered in a civil action brought in the name of the state in any court of competent jurisdiction. Each day the violation is committed or permitted to continue constitutes a separate offense and is punishable as such. Any penalty assessed and recovered in an action brought under this subsection shall be paid to the state general fund.

(3) In undertaking the enforcement of this chapter, the state is assuming an undertaking only to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it imposing on its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that the breach proximately caused injury.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 17. Sections 11 through 16 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 18. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.