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AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SARATOGA
ADOPTING ARTICLE 11-15 OF THE CITY OF SARATOGA MUNICIPAL CODE TO
REGULATE SMOKING AND TOBACCO PRODUCT USE IN CITY PARKS
The City Council of the City of the City of Saratoga does ordain as follows:
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
WHEREAS, tobacco use causes death and disease and continues to be an urgent public
health challenge, as evidenced by the following:
• Tobacco-related illness is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States,
accounting for about 443,000 deaths each year; and
• Scientific studies have concluded that tobacco use can cause chronic lung disease,
coronary heart disease, and stroke, in addition to cancer of the lungs, larynx,
esophagus, and mouth; and
WHEREAS, secondhand smoke has been repeatedly identified as a health hazard, as
evidenced by the following:
• The U.S. Surgeon General concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to
secondhand smoke; and
• The California Air Resources Board placed secondhand smoke in the same category
as the most toxic automotive and industrial air pollutants by categorizing it as a toxic
air contaminant for which there is no safe level of exposure; and
• The California Environmental Protection Agency included secondhand smoke on the
Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth
defects, and other reproductive harm; and
WHEREAS, exposure to secondhand smoke causes death and disease, as evidenced by the
following:
• Secondhand smoke is responsible for as many as 73,000 deaths among nonsmokers
each year in the United States; and
• Exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk of coronary heart disease by
approximately thirty percent; and
• Secondhand smoke exposure causes lower respiratory tract infections, such as
pneumonia and bronchitis in as many as 300,000 children in the United States under
the age of 18 months each year; and exacerbates childhood asthma; and
WHEREAS, smokeless tobacco is not a safe alternative to smoking and also causes death and
disease, as evidenced by the following:
• Smokeless tobacco use causes leukoplakia, a disease causing white patches to form in
the user’s mouth that can become cancerous; smokeless tobacco products are known
to cause lung, larynx, esophageal, and oral cancer; and the regular use of snuff
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doubles the user’s risk of cardiovascular disease and death; and
• Prolonged use of snus, a form of smokeless tobacco, contributes to high blood
pressure, a factor of cardiovascular disease, and to a higher likelihood of suffering a
fatal stroke;
and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conducted laboratory analysis of
electronic cigarette samples and found they contained carcinogens and toxic chemicals to which
users and bystanders could potentially be exposed; and
WHEREAS, tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke impose great social and
economic costs, as evidenced by the following:
• The total annual economic burden of smoking in the United States is $193 billion;
and
• The total annual cost of smoking in California was estimated at $475 per resident or
$3,331 per smoker per year, for a total of nearly $15.8 billion in smoking-related costs
in 1999 alone; and
WHEREAS, exposure to secondhand smoke anywhere has negative health impacts, and
exposure to secondhand smoke does occur at significant levels outdoors, as evidenced by the
following:
• Levels of secondhand smoke exposure outdoors can reach levels attained indoors
depending on direction and amount of wind and number and proximity of smokers;
and
• Irritation from secondhand smoke begins at levels as low as 4 micrograms per cubic
meter, and in some outdoor situations this level can be found as far away as 13 feet
from the burning cigarette; and
• To be completely free from exposure to secondhand smoke in outdoor places, a
person may have to move nearly 25 feet away from the source of the smoke, about the
width of a two lane road; and
WHEREAS, cigarette butts pose a health threat to young children, as evidenced by the
following:
• In 2004, American poison control centers received nearly 8,000 reports of children
poisoned by the ingestion of cigarettes, cigarette butts, and other tobacco products;
and
• Children who ingest cigarette butts can experience vomiting, nausea, lethargy, and
gagging; and
WHEREAS, cigarette butts are a major and persistent source of litter, as evidenced by the
following:
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• It is estimated that over two billion cigarette butts are discarded every day worldwide,
and that Americans alone discard more than 175 million pounds of cigarette butts
every year; and
• Cigarette filters, made of plastic cellulose acetate, take approximately 15 years to
decompose; and
• In just three hours, 340,000 cigarette butts were collected from California beaches
during the 2008 Coastal Cleanup Day, making cigarette butts the most common type
of trash found 24 years in a row; and
• Cigarette filters have been found in the stomachs of birds, fish, whales, and other
marine creatures that have mistaken the filters for food, causing the animals to ingest
harmful plastic and toxic chemicals; and
• Los Angeles County recorded a 40% decrease in cigarette butts after banning smoking
on beaches in three cities; and
WHEREAS, creating smokefree areas helps protect the health of the 86.7% of Californians
who are nonsmokers; and
WHEREAS, state law prohibits smoking within 25 feet of playgrounds and tot lots and
expressly authorizes local communities to enact additional restrictions; and
WHEREAS, there is no Constitutional right to smoke;
NOW THEREFORE, it is the intent of the City Council, in enacting this ordinance, to
provide for the public health, safety, and welfare by discouraging the inherently dangerous
behavior of smoking and tobacco use around non-tobacco users, especially children; by
protecting the public from exposure to secondhand smoke where they play, exercise, and relax;
by protecting the environment from tobacco-related litter; by reducing the potential for children
to wrongly associate smoking and tobacco use with a healthy lifestyle; and by affirming and
promoting a healthy environment in and around the City parks.
SECTION 2. Article 11-15 of the Municipal Code is hereby adopted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 11-15 Tobacco Free Recreation Areas
Sec. 11-15.10 DEFINITIONS. The following words and phrases, whenever used in this
article shall have the meanings defined in this section unless the context clearly requires
otherwise:
(a) “Parking Area” means a parking lot or any other area designated or primarily used for
parking vehicles of Persons accessing a Recreational Area.
(b) “Person” means any natural person, partnership, cooperative association, corporation,
personal representative, receiver, trustee, assignee, or any other legal entity except the City of
Saratoga.
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(c) “Recreational Area” means any outdoor area, that is publicly owned and open to the
general public for recreational purposes, regardless of any fee or age requirement. The term
“Recreational Area” includes, but is not limited to parks, picnic areas, playgrounds, sports
fields, golf courses, walking paths, gardens, hiking trails, bike paths, horseback riding trails,
swimming pools, roller- and ice-skating rinks, and skateboard parks.
(d) “Smoke” means the gases, particles, or vapors released into the air as a result of
combustion, electrical ignition or vaporization, when the apparent or usual purpose of the
combustion, electrical ignition or vaporization is human inhalation of the byproducts, except
when the combusting or vaporizing material contains no tobacco or nicotine and the purpose
of inhalation is solely olfactory, such as, for example, smoke from incense. The term
“Smoke” includes, but is not limited to, tobacco smoke, electronic cigarette vapors, and
marijuana smoke.
(e) “Smoking” means engaging in an act that generates Smoke, such as for example:
possessing a lighted pipe, lighted hookah pipe, an operating electronic cigarette, a lighted
cigar, or a lighted cigarette of any kind; or; or lighting or igniting of a pipe, cigar, hookah
pipe, or cigarette of any kind.
(f) “Tobacco Product” means any substance containing tobacco leaf, including but not
limited to cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, hookah tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco, dipping
tobacco, snus, bidis, or any other preparation of tobacco; and any product or formulation of
matter containing biologically active amounts of nicotine that is manufactured, sold, offered
for sale, or otherwise distributed with the expectation that the product or matter will be
introduced into the human body, but does not include any cessation product specifically
approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for use in treating nicotine or
tobacco dependence.
Sec. 11-15.20 SMOKING AND TOBACCO PRODUCT USE PROHIBITED
(a) Smoking or using a Tobacco Product is prohibited anywhere in a Recreational Area or
in any Parking Area.
(b) Nothing in this article shall be construed to prohibit Smoking or Tobacco Product use
in any area in which such Smoking or Tobacco Product use is already prohibited by state or
federal law unless the applicable state or federal law does not preempt additional local
regulation.
Sec. 11-15.30 OTHER REQUIREMENTS AND PROHIBITIONS
(a) No ash can, ashtray, or other Smoking waste receptacle shall be placed in any area in
which Smoking is prohibited by this article.
(b) No Person shall knowingly permit Smoking or the use of Tobacco Products in an area
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under the Person’s legal or de facto control in which Smoking or the use of Tobacco
Products is prohibited by this article or other provisions of this Code, unless otherwise
required by state or federal law.
(c) No Person shall dispose of used Smoking or Tobacco Product waste within the
boundaries of an area in which Smoking or Tobacco Product use is prohibited by this article.
(d) “No Use of Tobacco Products” or “Tobacco-Free” signs shall be posted in a quantity
and manner reasonably likely to inform individuals occupying the Recreational Area and
Parking Area that Tobacco Product use is prohibited within the area. The signs shall have
letters of no less than one inch in height and shall include the international “No Smoking”
symbol (consisting of a pictorial representation of a burning cigarette enclosed in a red circle
crossed by a red bar).
(e) The presence of Smoking waste receptacles in violation of subsection (a) above and
the absence of signs required by subsection (d) above shall not be a defense to a violation of
any provision of this article.
(f) No Person shall intimidate, threaten any reprisal, or effect any reprisal, for the purpose
of retaliating against another Person who seeks to attain compliance with this article.
(g) Each instance of Smoking or Tobacco Product use in violation of this article shall
constitute a separate violation. For violations other than Smoking, each day of a continuing
violation of this article shall constitute a separate violation.
Sec. 11-15.40 PENALTIES AND ENFORCEMENT
(a) The remedies provided by this article are cumulative and in addition to any other
remedies available at law or in equity. Enforcement of this article shall be the responsibility of
the City. In addition, any peace officer or any enforcement officer designated by the City
Manager also may enforce this article.
(b) Violations of this article are subject to criminal enforcement as an infraction brought
by the City of Saratoga, punishable in accordance with Article 3-05 of this Code.
(c) Violations of this article are subject to civil action or administrative citation brought
by the City of Saratoga in accordance with Articles 3-10 and 3-30 of this Code, as applicable.
(d) Causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing a violation of any provision of this
article shall also constitute a violation of the article.
(e) Except as otherwise provided, enforcement of this article is at the sole discretion of
the City of Saratoga. Nothing in this article shall create a right of action in any person against the
City of Saratoga or its agents to compel public enforcement of this article against any party.
Section 3. CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT.
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Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”), this action is exempt under 14
California Code of Regulations (“CEQA Guidelines”) section 15061(b)(3) (the amendments are
exempt because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in
question may have a significant effect on the environment).
Section 4. SEVERANCE CLAUSE.
The City Council declares that each section, sub-section, paragraph, sub-paragraph, sentence,
clause and phrase of this ordinance is severable and independent of every other section, sub-
section, paragraph, sub-paragraph, sentence, clause and phrase of this ordinance. If any section,
sub-section, paragraph, sub-paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is held
invalid, the City Council declares that it would have adopted the remaining provisions of this
ordinance irrespective of the portion held invalid, and further declares its express intent that the
remaining portions of this ordinance should remain in effect after the invalid portion has been
eliminated.
Section 5. PUBLICATION.
This ordinance or a comprehensive summary thereof shall be published in a newspaper of general
circulation of the City of Saratoga within fifteen days after its adoption.
The foregoing ordinance was introduced and first reading waived at the regular meeting of the
City Council of the City of Saratoga held on September 1, 2010, and was adopted by the
following vote following a second reading on September 15, 2010:
AYES:
NAYS:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
ATTEST: SIGNED:
__________
Ann Sullivan, Kathleen M. King,
CLERK OF THE CITY OF SARATOGA MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SARATOGA
Date:
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
__________________________________
Richard Taylor,
CITY ATTORNEY