BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



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          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING


          AB 7  
          X2 (Mark Stone)


          As Amended  September 1, 2015


          Majority vote


           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |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         |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 


          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