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                                           ENGROSSED HOUSE BILL NO. 1836

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State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Representatives Schoon, Rust, Winsley, Pruitt, G. Fisher, Doty, Dorn, Rasmussen, Brumsickle, Fraser, Youngsman, Walk and Valle

Read first time 2/8/89 and referred to Committee on Environmental Affairs.

AN ACT Relating to smoking; and amending RCW 70.160.040.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 4, chapter 236, Laws of 1985 and RCW 70.160.040 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) A smoking area may be designated in a public place by the owner or, in the case of a leased or rented space, by 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; and

          (b) Hallways of health care facilities, with the exception of nursing homes, and lobbies of concert halls, theaters, auditoriums, exhibition halls, and indoor sports arenas, if the area is not physically separated.  Owners or other persons in charge are not required to incur any expense to make structural or other physical modifications in providing these areas.

          Except as provided in other provisions of this chapter, no public place, other than a bar, tavern, bowling alley, tobacco shop, or restaurant serving fewer than sixty persons,  may be designated as a smoking area in its entirety.  If a bar, tobacco shop, or restaurant serving fewer than sixty persons 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 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.