This chapter shall be known as the "Smoke-Free Air Act of Rockland
County."
It is hereby declared to be the health policy of the County
of Rockland to limit the exposure of the public to smoke and to accommodate
the personal preferences of County residents and, at the same time,
to support the health, safety and welfare of the general public.
A.
Reliable studies have shown that breathing secondhand smoke is a
significant health hazard for several population groups, including
children, fetuses, adults and elderly people, individuals with cardiovascular
disease and individuals with impaired respiratory function, including
asthmatics and those with obstructive airway disease.
B.
These health hazards include lung cancer, respiratory infection,
decreased exercise tolerance, decreased respiratory function, bronchoconstriction
and bronchospasm.
C.
It has been determined that carcinogenic chemicals, including formaldehyde,
have been found in variable amounts in electronic cigarette aerosols,
raising significant health and safety concerns.
D.
Exposure to smoke precipitates and/or aggravates allergic attacks
in persons with respiratory allergies and accelerates such allergic
symptoms as eye irritation, nasal symptoms, headaches, cough, wheezing,
sore throat and hoarseness.
E.
The preponderance of the evidence and the trends reflected in that
evidence all indicate that exposure to secondhand smoke is a significant
health hazard which does adversely affect the public health. Such
exposure has caused and continues to cause needless pain, suffering
and death.
F.
The hazard of secondhand smoke is of variable degree depending upon
such factors as length of exposure and the age and physical condition
of those exposed. In some cases, there is a voluntary assumption of
the hazard and, in other cases, an involuntary or coerced exposure.
This wide range of conditions necessitates a tailoring of the regulations
to match various circumstances.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any indoor area open to the public devoted to the sale and
service of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption and where
the service of food is only incidental to the consumption of such
beverages. Service of food shall be considered incidental if the food
service generates less than 40% of the total annual gross sales of
such establishment.
A thin, often flavored, South-Asian-style cigarette made
of tobacco wrapped in a tendu (or temburini; Diospyros melonoxylon
roxB.) leaf, and secured with colored thread at one end.
Any person under the age of 18.
The County of Rockland, New York.
The Commissioner of Health of the Rockland County Health
District.
Any room or group or rooms located within a dwelling and
forming a single habitable unit with facilities which are used or
intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants.
Battery-powered device that emits doses of vaporized nicotine
that are inhaled.
Any person, partnership, corporation, or association, of
either a for-profit or not-for-profit classification, which employs
one or more persons.
Any indoor area or portion thereof open to the public, in
which the business is the sale of food for on-premises consumption
and which has an indoor seating capacity of greater than 35 persons,
including but not limited to restaurants, cafeterias, coffee shops,
diners, sandwich shops, or short order cafes. A food service establishment
shall not include the bar area of such establishment; provided, however,
that any bar that generates 40% or more of total annual gross sales
from the sale of food for on-premises consumption shall be deemed
a food service establishment.
Any dwelling which is either rented, leased, let or hired
out, to be occupied, or is occupied as the temporary or permanent
residence or home of three or more households living independently
of each other. This does not include condominium units, cooperative
apartments and/or property owned by a homeowners' association.
Any person who, alone or jointly or severally with others:
Shall have legal title to any multiple dwelling, with or without
accompanying actual possession thereof; or
Shall have charge, care, or control of any dwelling or dwelling
unit, as owner, lessee, mortgagee or vendee in possession, assignee
of rents, or as a receiver; or an executor, administrator, trustee,
or guardian of the estate of the owner. Any agent for any of the above
shall be bound to comply with the provisions of this article to the
same extent as if he were the owner.
Any individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership,
institution, public body, joint-stock association or any other group
of individuals, and includes the plural as well as the singular.
Any indoor area or portion thereof under the control of an
employer in which employees of the employer perform services but which
is not generally accessible to the public.
The inhaling, exhaling, burning or carrying any lighted or
heated cigar, cigarette, electronic cigarette, pipe, or any lighted
or heated tobacco or plant product intended for inhalation, including
hookahs and marijuana, whether natural or synthetic, in any manner
or in any form.
Any indoor area in which smoking is permitted. Such smoking
area shall be clearly designated as such and shall be separate from
any area in which smoking is not permitted. In a place of employment,
the smoking area shall be separated from the smoke-free work area
by walls or partitions.
Any sports pavilion, stadium, gymnasium, health spa, swimming
pool, roller or ice rink, bowling alley, billiard parlor, and area
where bingo is held and other similar places where members of the
general public assemble either to engage in physical exercise, athletic
or recreational competitions or to witness sports, cultural, recreational
or similar activities.
Any vehicle, registered or unregistered, commercial or passenger,
with an enclosed compartment for driver and passengers, whether any
windows on such vehicle are open or closed.
An area in a place of employment where one or more employees
are routinely assigned to perform services for their employer.
