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:
BAR
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.
BIDI (ALTERNATE SPELLING BEEDI)
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.
CHILD or CHILDREN
Any person under the age of 18.
COUNTY
The County of Rockland, New York.
COMMISSIONER
The Commissioner of Health of the Rockland County Health District.
DWELLING UNIT
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.
ELECTRONIC CIGARETTE
Battery-powered device that emits doses of vaporized nicotine that are inhaled.
EMPLOYER
Any person, partnership, corporation, or association, of either a for-profit or not-for-profit classification, which employs one or more persons.
FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENT
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.
MULTIPLE DWELLING
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.
OWNER
Any person who, alone or jointly or severally with others:
A. 
Shall have legal title to any multiple dwelling, with or without accompanying actual possession thereof; or
B. 
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.
PERSON
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.
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT
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.
SMOKE or SMOKING
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.
SMOKING AREA
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.
SPORTS ARENA and RECREATIONAL AREA
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.
VEHICLE
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.
WORK AREA
An area in a place of employment where one or more employees are routinely assigned to perform services for their employer.