Senate Bill No. 47

(By Senator Wooton)

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[Introduced January 18, 1994;

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article nine-a, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend said article by adding thereto a new section, designated section five-a, all relating to prohibiting smoking within buildings in which owners or tenants have designated "no smoking areas" by means of conspicuous signs; and making violations a misdemeanor subject to fines.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article nine-a, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said article be further amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section five-a, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9A. TOBACCO USAGE RESTRICTIONS.
§16-9A-1. Legislative intent.
The Legislature hereby declares it to be the policy and intent of this state to discourage and ban the use of tobacco products by minors and to discourage and ban smoking withinbuildings, or portions thereof, whose owners or tenants have designated them to be "no smoking areas". As basis for this policy, the Legislature hereby finds and accepts the medical evidence that smoking tobacco may cause lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other serious health problems while the use of smokeless tobacco may cause gum disease and oral cancer. It is the further intent of the Legislature in banning the use of tobacco products by minors and in banning smoking within buildings, or portions thereof, whose owners or tenants have designated them to be "no smoking areas" to ease the personal tragedy and eradicate the severe economic loss associated with the use of tobacco and to provide the state with a citizenry free from the use of tobacco.
§16-9A-5a. Smoking where prohibited by sign.
Every person who shall light a pipe, cigar or cigarette in, or who shall enter with a lighted pipe, cigar or cigarette, any building, or portion thereof, in which the owner or tenant has posted in a conspicuous place over and near each principal entrance a notice in plain English letters, stating that no smoking is allowed in such building, or portion thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars for each separate offense.

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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit smoking within buildings in which owners or tenants have designated "no smoking areas" by means of conspicuous signs; and to makeviolations of such designations a misdemeanor subject to fines.)