§ 28-1. Findings and purpose.

(a)

The town council finds that:

(1)

Numerous scientific studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution;

(2)

Reliable scientific studies, including studies by the Surgeon General of the United States and studies commissioned and assessed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, have shown that breathing sidestream or secondhand smoke is a significant health hazard to nonsmokers; particularly to children and teens, elderly people, individuals with cardiovascular disease, and individuals with impaired respiratory function, including asthmatics and those with obstructive airway disease;

(3)

Health hazards induced by exposure to environmental tobacco smoke include lung and other forms of cancer, respiratory infection, decreased respiratory function, decreased exercise tolerance, broncho-constriction and broncho-spasm, and that the most common cause of premature death from environmental tobacco smoke is heart disease;

(4)

Reliable scientific studies assessed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have found that sidestream and secondhand tobacco smoke causes the death of at least fifty-three thousand nonsmokers annually and is a leading cause of premature death and disability among nonsmokers;

(5)

Nonsmokers with allergies, respiratory diseases and those who suffer other ill effects of breathing sidestream or secondhand tobacco smoke may experience a loss of job productivity or may be forced to take periodic sick leave because of adverse reactions to same;

(6)

Persons, particularly employees, have a right to a smoke-free environment if they desire;

(7)

Tobacco smoking is a leading cause of fires, and cigarette and cigar burns and ash stains on merchandise and fixtures cause economic losses to businesses;

(8)

Substantial scientific evidence exists that the direct use of tobacco products causes cancer, heart disease, and various other medical diseases. The Surgeon General of the U.S. has found that tobacco-caused diseases are the leading cause of premature, preventable death and disability in the U.S.;

(9)

The National Centers for Disease Control have found that at least four hundred thirty-four thousand Americans die each year from tobacco-caused diseases. The Surgeon General of the U.S. and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have found that a majority of those Americans who die of tobacco-caused diseases became addicted to nicotine in tobacco products as adolescents before the age of legal consent;

(10)

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has concluded that the nicotine in tobacco products is a powerful addictive drug and identifies nicotine addiction as the most widespread example of drug dependence in the U.S.;

(11)

The Surgeon General of the U.S. has found that nicotine in tobacco products is as addictive as cocaine and heroin;

(12)

87.9 percent of nonsmokers showed detectable levels of cotinine (a metabolite of nicotine) in their blood, the most likely source of which is secondhand smoke exposure;

(13)

There is no Constitutional right to smoke;

(14)

Secondhand smoke can seep under doorways and through wall cracks and through ventilation systems;

(15)

State law prohibits smoking in virtually all indoor places of employment reflecting the state policy to protect against the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke;

(16)

A local ordinance that authorizes residential rental agreements to include a prohibition on smoking of tobacco products within the common areas of multi-unit residences is not prohibited by state law;

(17)

California law declares that anything which is injurious to health or obstructs the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, is a nuisance.

(b)

Accordingly, the town council finds and declares that the purposes of this chapter are:

(1)

To protect public health, safety and general welfare by prohibiting tobacco smoking in certain public places and in places of employment; and

(2)

To guarantee the right of nonsmokers to breathe air free of toxins from combustion of tobacco, tobacco product, tobacco-like product, spices or any other plant or herbal materials to the extent that local regulation of sources of combustion of those materials is allowed by law and to recognize that the need to breathe air free of the toxins produced by smoking has priority over the desire to smoke.

(c)

The town council further finds it is within its basic police power to implement and enforce the provisions of this chapter.

(Ord. No. 531 N.S., § 3, 7-20-2011)