(A) The City Council finds that:
(1) Whereas numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution. Breathing secondhand smoke is a cause of disease in healthy nonsmokers. These diseases include heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and lung cancer;
(2) Whereas, the U.S. Surgeon General has issued a comprehensive scientific report which concludes that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke (Department of Health and Human Services, New Surgeon General's Report Focuses on the Effects of Secondhand Smoke; Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, 2006); and
(3) Whereas the smoking of tobacco is a form of air pollution, a danger to health and a material public nuisance.
(B) Accordingly, the City Council adopts the foregoing as justification for this subchapter, the purpose of which is:
(1) To protect the public health and welfare by prohibiting smoking in public places and places of employment;
(2) To guarantee the right of non-smokers to breathe smoke-free air; and
(3) To recognize that the public's need to breathe smoke-free air shall have priority over the individual's desire to smoke.
(Prior Code, § 125.01) (Ord. 24-2006, passed 10-16-2006)