[HISTORY: Adopted by the County Council of
Talbot County as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
[Adopted 2-27-1996 by Bill No. 602]
A.
The County Council of Talbot County finds that:
(1)
Numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is
a major contributor to indoor air pollution; and
(2)
Reliable studies have shown that breathing secondhand
smoke is a cause of disease, including lung cancer, in healthy nonsmokers.
At special risk are elderly people, individuals with cardiovascular
disease, and individuals with impaired respiratory function, including
asthmatics and those with obstructive airway disease; and
(3)
Health hazards induced by breathing secondhand smoke
include lung cancer, respiratory infection, decreased exercise tolerance,
decreased respiratory function, bronchoconstriction, and bronchospasm.
B.
The County Council of Talbot County declares that
the purposes of this article are:
(1)
To protect the public health and welfare by prohibiting
smoking in public places except in designated smoking areas, and by
regulating smoking in places of employment; and
(2)
To strike a reasonable balance between the needs of
persons who smoke and the need of nonsmokers to breathe smoke-free
air, and to recognize that, where these needs conflict, the need to
breathe smoke-free air shall have priority.
As used in this article, the following terms
have the meanings indicated:
Any person who is employed by any employer in the consideration
for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit, and any person who
volunteers his or her services for a nonprofit entity.
Any person, partnership, corporation, including a municipal
corporation, or nonprofit entity, which employs the services of one
or more persons.
An indoor place of employment. An enclosed workplace includes,
but is not limited to, an indoor work area, a vehicle when an employee
uses it in the course of employment and it is occupied by more than
one employee, an employee lounge or restroom, a conference and meeting
room, a classroom, a cafeteria operated by an employer for use by
its employees, a hallway, a restaurant, a bar or tavern, a sleeping
room in a hotel or motel, and an assembly, conference, convention,
or meeting establishment or enclosed portion of the establishment.
Any corporation, unincorporated association or other entity
created for charitable, philanthropic, educational, character building,
political, social or other similar purpose, the net proceeds from
the operations of which are committed to the promotion of the objectives
or purposes of the organization and not to private financial gain.
A public agency is not a nonprofit entity within the meaning of this
section.
Any enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which
the public is permitted, including but not limited to banks, educational
facilities, health facilities, public transportation facilities, reception
areas, restaurants, retail food production and marketing establishments,
retail service establishments, retail stores, theaters, and waiting
rooms. A private residence is not a public place.
Any coffee shop, cafeteria, sandwich stand, private or public
school cafeteria, or any other eating establishment which gives or
offers for sale food to the public, guests, or employees, as well
as kitchens in which food is prepared on the premises for serving
elsewhere, including catering facilities. Home-based catering occupations
are exempt.
[Amended 2-3-2004 by Bill No. 934]
A retail store utilized primarily for the sale of tobacco
products and accessories and in which the sale of other products is
merely incidental.
Any indoor line at which one or more persons wait for or
receive service of any kind, whether or not such service involves
the exchange of money.
Airborne material, whether visible or not, produced by the
burning of tobacco in any form.
Inhaling, exhaling, burning or carrying any lighted cigar,
cigarette, weed, plant or other combustible substance in any manner
or in any form.
[1]
Editor's Note: The definition of “bar
or bar area,” which immediately preceded this definition, was
repealed 2-3-2004 by Bill No. 934.
All enclosed facilities and other designated
areas owned or leased by Talbot County or the Talbot County Board
of Education shall be smoke-free.
A.
Smoking shall be prohibited in all enclosed public
places within Talbot County including, but not limited to, the following
places:
(1)
Elevators.
(2)
Buses, taxicabs, and other means of public transit
under the authority of Talbot County.
[Amended 2-3-2004 by Bill No. 934]
(3)
Restrooms.
(4)
Service lines.
(5)
Retail stores.
[Amended 2-3-2004 by Bill No. 934]
(6)
All areas available to and customarily used by the
general public in all businesses and nonprofit entities patronized
by the public, including but not limited to offices, banks, hotels
and motels.
(7)
Restaurants.
(8)
Public areas of aquariums, galleries, libraries and
museums when open to the public.
(9)
Any building not open to the sky which is used primarily
for exhibiting motion pictures, stage, drama, lectures, musical recitals
or other similar performances, except when smoking is a part of a
stage production.
(10)
Sports arenas and convention halls.
[Amended 2-3-2004 by Bill No. 934]
(11)
Every room, chamber, place of meeting or public
assembly, including school buildings and grounds under the control
of any board, council, commission, committee, including joint committees,
or agency of the County.
(12)
Waiting rooms, hallways, wards, and semiprivate
and private rooms of health facilities, including but not limited
to hospitals, clinics, physical therapy facilities, doctors' offices,
and dentists' offices.
(13)
Polling places.
B.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment
or facility described in this section may declare the entire establishment
or facility as a nonsmoking establishment.
A.
An employer shall ensure that there is no smoking
in an enclosed workplace, except as authorized below.
B.
An employer may permit smoking in a designated smoking
area which meets the following criteria:
C.
An employer shall ensure that cleaning and maintenance
work in a designated smoking area is conducted while no one is smoking
in the area.
D.
An employer shall periodically, but at least quarterly,
inspect the ventilation of any designated smoking areas to ensure
that appropriate negative pressure is being maintained.
E.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
every employer shall have the right to designate any place of employment,
or any portion thereof, as a nonsmoking area.
A.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this article
to the contrary, the following areas shall not be subject to the smoking
restrictions of this article:
[Amended 2-3-2004 by Bill No. 934[1]]
(1)
In the bar and dining area of an eating and drinking
establishment that:
(2)
Any portion of private residences which are not open
to the public for business purposes, to include home-based catering
occupations.
(3)
Up to 40% of hotel and motel rooms rented to guests.
(4)
Retail tobacco stores.
[1]
Editor's Note: This bill also provided that if the exemption from the prohibitions contained in Subsection A(1), exemptions for private clubs, is held to be unconstitutional or invalid on its face or as applied to any person or circumstance, then the Council intends that:
(1) The exemption be severed from the remainder
of Bill No. 934; and
B.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment
described in this section may declare the entire establishment as
a nonsmoking establishment.
A.
"Smoking" or "No smoking" signs, whichever are appropriate,
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 in 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 regulated by this article, by the
owner, operator, manager or other person having control of such building
or other place.
B.
Every theater owner, manager or operator shall conspicuously
post signs in the lobby stating that smoking is prohibited within
the theater or auditorium.
A.
Enforcement of this article shall be the responsibility
of the Talbot County Health Department. The Talbot County Health Officer,
or his/her designee, shall be authorized to issue civil citations
for violations of this article. Violations shall be prosecuted in
the same manner as a code violation under Md. Code Ann., Criminal
Law Art., § 10-119, as amended. The County Attorney shall
be authorized to prosecute violations.
[Amended 2-3-2004 by Bill No. 934]
B.
Any citizen who desires to register a complaint under
this article may initiate enforcement with the Health Department.
C.
The Health Department shall require, while an establishment
is undergoing otherwise mandated inspections, a self-certification
from the owner, operator or other person having control of such establishment
that the establishment is in compliance with all the requirements
of this article.
D.
Any owner, manager, operator or employee of any establishment
regulated by this article may inform persons violating this article
of the appropriate provisions thereof.
E.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this article,
a private citizen may bring legal action to enforce this article.
A.
It shall be unlawful for any person who owns, manages,
operates or otherwise controls the use of any premises subject to
regulation under this article to fail to comply with any of its provisions.
B.
It shall be unlawful for any person to smoke in any
area where smoking is prohibited by the provisions of this article.
B.1
|
Any person who violates this article, for the first violation only, shall receive a written reprimand issued by the Talbot County Health Officer or his/her designee. The written reprimand shall not be considered a violation of this article for purposes of the penalties imposed by Subsection C of this section.
[Added 2-3-2004 by Bill No. 934] |
C.
Any person who violates any provision of this article
shall be guilty of a civil infraction and, upon conviction, shall
be punished by:
[Amended 2-3-2004 by Bill No. 934]
(1)
A fine of $100 for a first violation of this article.
(2)
A fine of $200 for a second or subsequent violation of this article within any twelve-month period, except that in addition to the prescribed fine, if the operator of an eating or drinking establishment holding an alcoholic beverages license under Chapter 11 of the Talbot County Code, Talbot County Alcoholic Beverages Ordinance, has three or more violations within any twelve-month period, the alcoholic beverage license shall be suspended as follows:
(3)
All fines collected shall be paid to Talbot County.
No person or employer 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 article.
[Amended 2-3-2004 by Bill No. 934]
[Adopted 5-22-2001 by Bill No. 813]
The Talbot County Council finds and declares
that tobacco products are a hazard to the health of the general public,
especially youth, and that tobacco products should be made accessible
at retail places only through the intervention of the retail seller
or seller’s employee.
A.
A retail seller of tobacco products shall not display
or store the product in any place that is accessible to buyers of
the product without the intervention of the seller or an employee
of the seller. Violation of the provisions of this article shall be
a civil infraction subject to the penalties provided herein.
B.
"Tobacco product" means any substance containing tobacco,
including cigarettes, cigars, smoking tobacco, snuff, or smokeless
tobacco.
C.
"Retail seller" means the owner or proprietor of the
business establishment.
A.
Any person who desires to report an alleged violation
of this article may file a written complaint with the Talbot County
Health Department. Upon receipt of a written complaint, representatives
of the Talbot County Health Department shall inspect the premises
and document their findings.
B.
If, during routine inspections of retail establishments
covered by this article, any state or County agency finds that the
requirements of this article are not being met, they shall report
such noncompliance to the Talbot County Health Department.
C.
Written warnings and civil citations for alleged violations
of this article shall be issued by representatives of the Talbot County
Health Department and prosecuted by the County Attorney in accordance
with the procedures and requirements pertaining to municipal infractions
set forth in Md. Code Ann., Local Government Art., § 6-101
et seq., as the same may be amended from time to time.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Any person who violates any provision of this
article shall be guilty of a civil infraction and shall be punished
as follows:
A.
For a first and second violation, upon a written acknowledgement
of the violation by the retail seller, representatives of the Talbot
County Health Department shall provide information concerning the
requirements of this article and issue a written warning. A subsequent
violation shall be treated as a first offense.
B.
All violations other than those disposed of pursuant
to Md. Code Ann., Local Government Art., § 6-101 et seq.,
shall be punished by a fine in accordance with the following schedule:
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]