The City Council finds, determines, and declares that:
A. Tobacco
use and exposure to secondhand smoke cause death and disease and impose
great social and economic costs; and
B. More
than four hundred forty thousand people die in the United States from
tobacco-related diseases every year, making it the nation's leading
cause of preventable death; and
C. The
World Health Organization estimates that by 2030, tobacco will account
for ten million deaths per year, making it the greatest cause of death
worldwide; and
D. The
United States Environmental Protection Agency has found secondhand
smoke to be a risk to public health and has classified secondhand
smoke as a group A carcinogen, the most dangerous class of carcinogen;
and
E. Secondhand
smoke is responsible for an estimated thirty-eight thousand deaths
among non-smokers each year in the United States, which includes three
thousand lung cancer deaths and thirty-five thousand deaths due to
heart disease; and
F. Eighty-seven
and nine-tenths percent of non-smokers showed detectable levels of
cotinine (a metabolite of nicotine) in their blood, the most likely
source of which is secondhand smoke exposure; and
G. Secondhand
smoke exposure adversely affects fetal growth with elevated risk of
low birth weight and increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
in infants of mothers who smoke; and
H. Secondhand
smoke exposure causes as many as three hundred thousand children in
the United States under the age of eighteen months to suffer lower
respiratory tract infections, such as pneumonia and bronchitis; exacerbates
childhood asthma; and increases the risk of acute, chronic, middle-ear
infections in children; and
I. The
total cost of smoking in California was estimated as four hundred
seventy-five dollars per resident or three thousand three hundred
thirty-one dollars per smoker per year, for a total of nearly fifteen
billion eight hundred million dollars in smoking-related costs in
1999 alone; and
J. Cigarettes,
cigars, pipes and other smoking materials are the leading cause of
fire deaths in the United States, causing an estimated thirty-one
thousand two hundred structure fires and eight hundred thirty deaths
in 2001; and
K. Most
Californians do not smoke and a majority favor limitations on smoking
in multi-unit residences, as evidenced by the facts that eighty-four
percent of Californians are nonsmokers; seventy percent of Californians
surveyed approve of apartment complexes requiring at least half of
rental units be nonsmoking; and sixty-seven percent of Californians
surveyed favor limiting smoking in outdoor common areas of apartment
buildings; and
L. Secondhand
smoke can seep under doorways and through wall cracks;
M. There
is no Constitutional right to smoke; and
N. 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; and
O. California
law declares that anything that is injurious to health or obstructs
the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment
of life or property is an nuisance; and
P. Local
governments have broad latitude to declare nuisances and are not constrained
by prior definitions of nuisance; and
Q. It
is the intent of the city council of the city of Temecula in enacting
the ordinance codified in this chapter, to provide for the public
health, safety, and welfare by discouraging the inherently dangerous
behavior of smoking around non-tobacco users; by protecting children
from exposure to smoking where they live and play; and by protecting
the public from nonconsensual exposure to secondhand smoke in and
around their homes; and
R. It
is the intent of the city council of the city of Temecula to supplement
applicable state and federal laws pertaining to smoking and not to
duplicate, contradict, or frustrate such laws. This chapter shall
be construed consistently with that intention.
(Ord. 07-04 § 1)
For the purposes of this Chapter the following definitions shall
govern unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
"Landlord"
means any person who owns real property that is leased as
residential property, lets residential property, or manages such property,
except that landlord does not include sublessors.
"Multi-Unit Residence"
means a premises leased as residential property and that
contains two or more units, none of which are occupied by a landlord
of the premises.
"Multi-unit residence common area"
means any indoor or outdoor area of a mufti-unit residence
accessible to and usable by residents of different units; including
but not limited to halls and paths, lobbies, laundry rooms, common
cooking areas, outdoor eating areas, play areas, swimming pools and
parking areas.
"Person"
means any natural person, partnership, cooperative association.
corporation, personal representative, receiver, trustee, assignee
or any other legal entity.
"Premises"
means a piece of land and any improvements thereon such as
is usually described in a deed, deed of trust or mortgage, and includes
legally separate but contiguous pieces of land that are owned by the
same natural person or by legal persons under common control.
"Reasonable distance"
means a distance of twenty-five feet in any direction from
an area in which smoking is prohibited. This distance should be reasonably
sufficient to make it unlikely that secondhand smoke will enter nonsmoking
areas.
"Smoking" or to "smoke"
means holding or possessing a lighted tobacco product or
paraphernalia (including but not limited to, a lighted pipe, lighted
hookah pipe, lighted cigar, or lighted cigarette of any kind), or
any other lighted weed or plant the smoke of which is commonly inhaled,
or the lighting of a tobacco product, tobacco paraphernalia, or any
other weed or plant the smoke of which is commonly inhaled.
"Unit"
means either a dwelling space consisting of essentially complete
independent living facilities for one or more persons, including,
for example, permanent provisions for living and sleeping, and any
private outdoor spaces like balconies and patios; or senior citizen
housing and single room occupancy hotels, as defined in California
Health and Safety Code Section 50519(b)(1), even where lacking private
cooking facilities or private plumbing facilities. Unit does not include
lodging in a hotel or motel that meets the requirements set forth
in California
Civil Code Section 1940(b)(2).
(Ord. 07-04 § 1; Ord. 07-10 § 3; Ord.
07-11 § 3)
Smoking is prohibited on the premises of a multi-unit residence within a reasonable distance of any entrance, opening, or other vent into an enclosed area of a multi-unit residence in which smoking is prohibited by this chapter, other provisions of this code, state law, or federal law. For example, and without limitation, smoking on balconies, porches or patios within a reasonable distance of a window or door of a nonsmoking unit is prohibited. This provision does not apply inside a designated smoking unit pursuant to Section
17.30.050 of this chapter.
(Ord. 07-04 § 1)
Every landlord shall maintain a current list of designated nonsmoking
units and a floor plan identifying the relative position of smoking
and nonsmoking units as well as the location of any designated smoking
areas.
The landlord shall provide a copy of the current list and the
floor plan to the city and to every tenant.
(Ord. 07-04 § 1)
Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, smoking
marijuana for medical purposes as permitted by California Health and
Safety Code Sections 11362.7 et seq. in any unit of a multi-unit residence
is not prohibited by this chapter. Notwithstanding the forgoing, such
use of marijuana may be prohibited by other provisions of this code,
state law, or federal law.
(Ord. 07-04 § 1)
The remedies provided by this chapter are cumulative and in
addition to any other remedies available at law or in equity.
A. Violations of this chapter are subject to penalty pursuant to Chapters
1.21 and
1.24 of the Temecula Municipal Code.
B. No
person shall intimidate, harass, or otherwise retaliate against any
person who seeks to attain compliance with this chapter. Moreover,
no person shall intentionally or recklessly expose another person
to secondhand smoke in response to that person's effort to achieve
compliance with this chapter.
C. Causing,
permitting, aiding, abetting, or concealing a violation of any provision
of this chapter is prohibited.
D. A violation
of this chapter is declared to be a public nuisance.
E. In
addition to other remedies provided by this chapter or otherwise available
at law or in equity, any violation of this chapter may be remedied
by a civil action brought by the city, including, without limitation,
administrative or judicial nuisance abatement proceedings, civil or
criminal code enforcement proceedings, and suits for injunctive relief.
(Ord. 07-04 § 1)