A.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (hereinafter, "EPA") has classified tobacco smoke, also known as secondhand smoke, as a Group A carcinogen, along with arsenic, asbestos, benzene, radon and other poisons. The EPA, Surgeon General and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have all agreed that secondhand smoke can cause heart disease, lung disease and cancer in healthy nonsmokers. The National Cancer Institute determined in 1999 that secondhand smoke is responsible for the deaths of 65,000 nonsmoking Americans annually. A 1992 EPA report concluded that for children, exposure to secondhand smoke is causally linked with, among other things, an increased risk of respiratory illnesses, such as bronchitis and pneumonia, an increase in the prevalence of fluid in the inner ear, and a significant reduction in the lung function of children. Moreover, the EPA found that the exposure to secondhand smoke increases the number of episodes and the severity of symptoms in asthmatic children and causes thousands of nonasthmatic children to develop this condition each year.
B.
The Surgeon General has determined that the simple separation of smokers and nonsmokers within the same air space may reduce but does not eliminate the exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke. The EPA has determined that secondhand smoke cannot be reduced to safe levels in businesses by high rates of ventilation. Air filters, which are only capable of filtering the particulate matter and odor in secondhand smoke, do not eliminate the known toxins contained therein. It is, therefore, the intent of Council to protect the health and welfare of all City employees, as well as the general public, by enacting restrictions on smoking in all buildings and facilities that are owned, leased or operated by the City of Harrisburg.