Tough Smoking Law to Take Effect March 21

The county’s toughest smoking ordinance will go into effect March 21, the City Council has decided.

The council Tuesday adopted the second and final reading of the ordinance, which prohibits smoking in public meeting rooms, municipal buses, theaters, auditoriums, elevators and indoor service lines.

Also, all employers are required to adopt written smoking policies that give employees the right to designate work areas as off-limits to smoking. In disputes over the policy, the wishes of non-smokers would have precedence over those of smokers.

Smoking also is prohibited in restaurants with a capacity of 40 or more, unless the restaurant creates a no-smoking section that is at least 25% of its capacity. Lounges and bars are not regulated by the ordinance.

Westminster regulates smoking in city-owned buildings, and the county has a similar ordinance in county-owned buildings and some health care facilities. But Laguna Beach is the first to regulate smoking citywide.