BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 7 X2
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 7
X2 (Mark Stone)
As Amended September 1, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Public Health |10-3 |Bonta, Baker, |Maienschein, Mayes, |
| | |Bonilla, Campos, |Steinorth |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Levine, Santiago, | |
| | |Mark Stone, Thurmond, | |
| | |Wood | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Finance |6-3 |Weber, Bloom, Gomez, |Melendez, Bigelow, |
| | | |Obernolte |
| | | | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, | |
| | |McCarty, Ting | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Removes many (but not all) exemptions in existing law
that allow tobacco smoking in certain indoor workplaces and
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expands the prohibition on smoking in a place of employment to
include owner-operated businesses. Specifically, this bill:
1)Extends the workplace smoking prohibition to include
owner-operated businesses in which the owner-operator of the
business is the only worker.
2)Expands the definition of enclosed space to include covered
parking lots.
3)Reduces from 65% to 20% the amount of the guestroom
accommodations in a hotel, motel, or similar transient lodging
establishment in which smoking is allowed.
4)Eliminates several exemptions in law which currently allow the
smoking of tobacco products in certain work environments,
thereby prohibiting the smoking of tobacco products indoors at
the following locations:
a) Hotel or motel lobbies;
b) Meeting and banquet rooms in a hotel or motel;
c) Warehouse facilities;
d) Gaming clubs;
e) Bars and taverns;
f) Employee break rooms; and,
g) Businesses with a total of five or fewer employees.
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5)Deletes obsolete references to regulations that would have
permitted smoking at gaming clubs, bars, and taverns had these
been adopted before January 1, 1998, by the Occupational
Safety and Health Standards Board if a safe level of exposure
to secondhand smoke were found that prevents anything other
than insignificant harmful effects to exposed employees. No
such regulations were ever adopted.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes "smoke-free laws," which prohibit the smoking of
tobacco products in various places, including, but not limited
to, school campuses, public buildings, places of employment,
apartment buildings, day care facilities, retail food
facilities, health facilities, and vehicles when minors are
present, and makes a violation of some of the prohibitions
punishable by an infraction.
2)Prohibits an employer from knowingly or intentionally
permitting the smoking of tobacco products in an enclosed
space at a place of employment.
3)Defines an enclosed space as including lobbies, lounges,
waiting areas, elevators, stairwells, and restrooms that are a
structural part of the building.
4)Exempts certain places of employment from the prohibition on
smoking tobacco products in an enclosed space, including:
a) Hotel or motel lobbies that meet certain size
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requirements;
b) Meeting and banquet rooms in hotels or motels;
c) Retail or wholesale tobacco shops and private smokers'
lounges;
d) Warehouse facilities;
e) Gaming clubs, bars, and taverns;
f) Patient smoking areas in long-term health care
facilities;
g) Break rooms designated for smoking by an employer; and,
h) Businesses with five or fewer employees, among others.
1)Makes a violation of the prohibition an infraction punishable
by fines of $100 for a first violation, $200 for a second
violation within one year, and $500 for a third and for each
subsequent violation within one year.
2)Provides for enforcement of the prohibition by local law
enforcement agencies, including health departments.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Finance Committee,
minor and absorbable costs for the Department of Public Health
to provide local public health departments, law enforcement, and
the media with information about these new statutory changes,
and minor enforcement costs to local law enforcement agencies,
including health departments.
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COMMENTS: According to the author, California's workers and
business patrons are integral to maintaining a strong California
economy and it is vital that California protect the health and
safety of these people. The author states that secondhand smoke
is a Toxic Air Contaminant and it is well known that there is no
safe amount of exposure to these dangerous chemicals. The
author notes secondhand smoke contributes to many cases of lung
cancer, heart disease, and strokes which can lead to death, and
due to the many workplace smoking exemptions, California cannot
join 26 other states including Washington D.C. in being named
"smoke-free" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The author concludes, in order to protect California's workers
and to take one step closer to joining the 26 other states, it
is imperative that California remove exemptions to its'
smoke-free workplace laws.
Secondhand smoke. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has
classified secondhand smoke as a toxic air contaminant. ARB
notes that tobacco smoke releases 40 tons of nicotine, 365 tons
of particulate matter, and 1900 tons of carbon monoxide into the
California environment each year. The Office of Environmental
Health Hazard Assessment has noted clearly established links
between exposure to secondhand smoke and a number of adverse
health effects including: premature births; low birth rates;
sudden infant death syndrome; the exacerbation of asthma; ear
and respiratory infections; lung and nasal sinus cancer; heart
disease; and, eye and nasal irritation.
According to the 2014 Surgeon General's Report, How Tobacco
Smoke Causes Disease, there have been more than 20 million
smoking-related deaths in the United States since 1964; 2.5
million of those deaths were among non-smokers who died from
exposure to secondhand smoke. Each year in the United States
alone, secondhand smoke is responsible for an estimated 42,000
deaths from heart disease in people who are current non-smokers;
about 7,000 lung cancer deaths in non-smoking adults; worse
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asthma and asthma-related problems in up to 1 million asthmatic
children; and, between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory
tract (lung and bronchus) infections in children under 18 months
of age, with 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations each year. In the
United States, the costs of extra medical care, illness, and
death caused by second hand smoke are over $10 billion per year.
Analysis Prepared by:
Lara Flynn / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097 FN:
0002331