Senate Bill No. 604
(By Senator Snyder, Bailey, Bowman, Jackson,
Anderson, Fanning, Love and Facemyer)
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[Introduced February 15, 2002; referred to the Committee
on Health and Human Resources.]
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A BILL to amend article one, chapter sixteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section four-a,
relating to legislative findings; requiring the secretary of
the department of health and human resources to propose
legislative rules to regulate smoking of tobacco products by
adults in indoor public places in this state; establishing
standards, provisions and exemptions to be included in the
proposed rules; allowing county, municipal and combined boards
of health the opportunity to formally adopt and enforce the
legislative rules; and declaring other rules or regulations on
the subject to be void and unenforceable.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one, chapter sixteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section four-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. STATE PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM.
§16-1-4a. Proposal of rules for clean indoor air by the secretary.
(a) The Legislature of the state of West Virginia finds and
determines that many county, municipal and combined boards of
health throughout the state have adopted clean indoor air
regulations to restrict smoking of tobacco products by adults in
indoor public places in their jurisdictional boundaries. The
several clean indoor air regulations vary considerably from
jurisdiction to jurisdiction throughout the state, resulting in a
patchwork pattern of regulation of smoking throughout the state.
The West Virginia department of health and human resources desires
to regulate the smoking of tobacco products in indoor public places
across the state, and the Legislature finds that such regulation
ought to be uniform throughout the state in order that all owners
of public places and operators of the businesses operated therein
be subject to the same regulations statewide, in order that all
adults who choose to smoke tobacco products be subject to the same
clean indoor air regulations statewide, and in order to assist law
enforcement agencies and personnel charged with the duty to enforce
clean indoor air regulations across the state.
(b) The secretary shall, not later than the twenty-fifth day
of June, two thousand two, promulgate and deliver to the secretary
of state legislative rules, but not emergency rules, in accordance
with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of the code, that are reasonable, necessary and proper to regulate the
smoking of tobacco products by adults within indoor public places
in this state, which rules shall include, but need not be limited
to, the following:
(1) The owner or operator of a business open to the public may
designate such indoor smoking and nonsmoking areas as such person
may desire, but shall designate not less than fifty percent of the
area open to the public to be nonsmoking;
(2) The smoking of tobacco products shall be prohibited in
hospitals, medical clinics, pharmacies, doctors' and dentists'
offices and similar health care facilities, museums, elevators,
restrooms and means of public transportation excepting ticketing,
boarding and waiting areas;
(3) Public places in which a bar, tavern, retail tobacco
specialty store, bowling alleys, bingo hall, or night club occupy
a significant portion of the public area shall be exempt from the
rules;
(4) Facilities that are licensed by the West Virginia racing
commission pursuant to article twenty-three, chapter nineteen of
the code, private residences, except when used as a child care
facility, hotel and motel rooms when rented to guests, and assembly
halls, conference or meeting rooms when they are rented or used for
private functions shall be exempt from the rules;
(5) Provisions that reasonably accommodate the interests of
adults who choose to smoke tobacco products and the interests of nonsmokers;
(6) Indoor public places that are of a small size, or are
constructed in a way that makes designation of smoking and
nonsmoking areas economically impractical or unmanageable shall be
exempt from the rules, in whole or in part;
(7) Signs that do not unreasonably interfere with the
operation of the business that is operated in a public place, of a
size and at a location sufficient to notify persons that an area
within a public place is designated as smoking or nonsmoking, shall
be posted; and
(8) Provisions to assure that the costs of compliance with the
rules do not unreasonably jeopardize the viability of the business
operated in the public place.
(c) The clean indoor air rules promulgated pursuant to this
section shall be enforceable in areas of this state that are not
within the jurisdictional boundary of a county, municipal or
combined board of health, and shall be enforceable by a county,
municipal or combined board of health within its jurisdiction only
if such board of health formally adopts the clean indoor air rules
promulgated hereunder. Any other clean indoor air rules heretofore
or hereafter adopted by a county, municipal or combined board of
health shall be void and unenforceable sixty days after the
effective date of the Legislature's approval of the rules
promulgated pursuant to this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the secretary of
the department of health and human resources to propose legislative
rules to regulate smoking in indoor public places across the state.
The bill sets out standards, provisions and exemptions that must be
included in the rules. The rules will apply to those areas of the
state that are not within the jurisdiction of a county, municipal
or combined board of health. County, municipal or combined boards
of health may formally adopt and thereafter enforce the rules. All
other clean indoor air rules become void and unenforceable sixty
days after the effective date of the Legislature's approval of the
rules promulgated under this section.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.