MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2007 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Welfare
By: Senator(s) Dawkins
AN ACT TO CREATE THE MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST SMOKE-FREE FAMILIES ACT; TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS OF CERTAIN TERMS; TO PROHIBIT SMOKING IN ENCLOSED PUBLIC PLACES IN THE SIX GULF COAST COUNTIES IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI; TO PROVIDE THAT EMPLOYERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING A SMOKE-FREE WORKPLACE FOR ALL EMPLOYEES AND TO PRESCRIBE CERTAIN STANDARDS FOR SMOKING BREAK ROOMS IN SUCH COUNTIES; TO SPECIFY THE AREAS WHERE SMOKING IS NOT REGULATED IN SUCH COUNTIES; TO PROVIDE FOR THE POSTING OF "NO SMOKING" SIGNS IN SUCH COUNTIES; TO DIRECT THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH TO ADOPT REGULATIONS AND PENALTIES REGARDING VIOLATIONS OF THIS ACT IN SUCH COUNTIES; TO AMEND SECTION 97-32-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROHIBIT SMOKING IN ALL PRIVATE SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND FACILITIES IN THE SIX GULF COAST COUNTIES IN MISSISSIPPI; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Mississippi Gulf Coast Smoke-Free Families Act."
SECTION 2. The following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed in this section and shall only be applicable in the following counties in Mississippi: Harrison, Jackson, Hancock, Pearl River, Stone and George, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "Bar" means an area that is devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by guests on the premises in which the serving of food is only incidental to the consumption of those beverages. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term "bar" does not include any establishment where cigarette smoke can filter into any area where smoking is prohibited through a passageway, ventilation system or any other means.
(b) "Business" means any sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation or other legal entity formed for profit-making purposes, including retail establishments where goods or services are sold as well as professional corporations and other entities where legal, medical, dental, engineering, architectural or other professional services are delivered.
(c) "Employee" means any person who is employed by any employer in the consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit and any person who volunteers his or her services.
(d) "Employer" means any person, partnership, corporation, including a municipal corporation, or nonprofit entity, that employs the services of one or more individual persons.
(e) "Enclosed area" means all space between a floor and ceiling that is enclosed on all sides by solid walls or windows, excluding doors or passageways, that extend from the floor to the ceiling, including all space therein screened by partitions that do not extend to the ceiling or are not solid, office landscaping or similar structures.
(f) "Place of employment" means any enclosed area under the control of a public or private employer that employees normally frequent during the course of employment, including, but not limited to, work areas, employee lounges and restrooms, conference and classrooms, employee cafeterias and hallways. A private residence is not a "place of employment" unless it is used as a child care facility, as defined in Section 43-20-5, adult day care or health care facility that is licensed or regulated by the State Department of Health.
(g) "Public conveyance" means buses, taxis, trains, trolleys, boats and other means of public transit when used for public conveyance.
(h) "Public meeting" means all meetings open to the public unless held in a private residence.
(i) "Public place" means any enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which the public is permitted, including, but not limited to, banks, educational facilities, health facilities, laundromats, public transportation facilities, reception areas, restaurants, retail food production and marketing establishments, retail service establishments, retail stores, theaters and waiting rooms. A private residence is not a "public place."
(j) "Restaurant" means any coffee shop, cafeteria, sandwich stand, or any other eating establishment that gives or offers for sale food to the public, guests or employees, as well as kitchens in which food is prepared on the premises for serving elsewhere, including catering facilities, except that the term "restaurant" does not include a cocktail lounge or tavern if the cocktail lounge or tavern is a "bar" as defined in paragraph (a) of this section.
(k) "Retail tobacco store" means a retail store utilized primarily for the on-site sale of tobacco products and accessories, including the rental of on-site humidors and in which the sale of other products is merely incidental.
(l) "Service line" means any indoor line at which one or more persons are waiting for or receiving service of any kind, whether or not the service involves the exchange of money.
(m) "Smoking" means inhaling, exhaling, burning, carrying or otherwise possessing any lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe or any other object or device of any form that contains lighted tobacco or any other smoking product.
(n) "Sports arena" means sports pavilions, gymnasiums, health spas, boxing arenas, swimming pools, roller and ice rinks, bowling alleys and other similar places where members of the general public assemble either to engage in or witness physical exercise, athletic competition or other sports entertainment events.
SECTION 3. (The following provision shall be applicable in the following six (6) Mississippi counties: Harrison, Hancock, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George:)
(1) Smoking is prohibited in all enclosed public places in the State of Mississippi, including, but not limited to, the following places:
(a) Elevators;
(b) Restrooms, lobbies, reception areas, hallways and any other common-use areas;
(c) Buses, taxicabs and other means of public conveyance;
(d) Service lines;
(e) Retail stores;
(f) All areas available to and customarily used by the general public in all businesses and nonprofit entities patronized by the public, including, but not limited to, banks, laundromats, hotels and motels;
(g) Restaurants;
(h) Public areas of aquariums, galleries, libraries and museums when open to the public;
(i) Any facility that is primarily used for exhibiting any motion picture, stage, drama, lecture, musical recital or other similar performance;
(j Sports arenas and convention centers;
(k) Waiting rooms, hallways, wards and semiprivate rooms of health facilities, including, but not limited to, hospitals, clinics, physical therapy facilities, doctors' offices, dentists' offices, personal care homes, hospices and birthing facilities;
(l) Indoor lobbies, hallways and other common areas in apartment buildings, condominiums, trailer parks, retirement facilities, nursing homes and other multiple-unit residential facilities;
(m) Polling places during the days and hours of operation.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment or facility may declare that entire establishment or facility is a nonsmoking establishment.
SECTION 4. (The following provision shall be applicable in the following six (6) Mississippi counties: Harrison, Hancock, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George:)
(1) Each employer with five (5) or more employees shall prohibit smoking in any place of employment under said employer's control, except that an employer may designate one or more smoking break rooms pursuant to this section. It is the responsibility of employers with five (5) or more full-time employees to provide a smoke-free place of employment for all employees.
(2) Not later than six (6) months after the effective date of this act, each employer having an enclosed place of employment shall adopt, implement, make known and maintain a written smoking policy that contains the following requirements: Smoking is prohibited in all enclosed facilities within a place of employment without exception. This includes common work areas, auditoriums, classrooms, conference and meeting rooms, private offices, elevators, hallways, medical facilities, cafeterias, employee lounges, stairs, restrooms, vehicles and all other enclosed facilities.
(3) Each smoking room designated by an employer pursuant to this section shall meet the following requirements: (a) air from the smoking room shall be exhausted directly to the outside by an exhaust fan, and no air from such room shall be recirculated to other parts of the building; (b) the employer shall comply with any ventilation standard adopted by (i) the United States Secretary of Labor under the authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, as from time to time amended, or (ii) the federal Environmental Protection Agency; (c) such room shall be located in a nonwork area where no employee, as part of his or her work responsibilities, is required to enter; such work responsibilities shall not include any custodial or maintenance work carried out in the smoking room when it is unoccupied; and (d) such room shall be for the use of employees only.
(4) Each employer that provides a smoking room pursuant to this section shall provide sufficient smoking break rooms for nonsmoking employees.
(5) Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit an employer from designating an entire business facility as a nonsmoking area.
(6) The State Department of Health may exempt any employer from the provisions of this section if he finds that (a) the employer made a good faith effort to comply with the provisions of this section, and (b) any further requirement to so comply would constitute an unreasonable financial burden on the employer.
SECTION 5. (The following provision shall be applicable in the following six (6) Mississippi counties: Harrison, Hancock, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George:)
Smoking shall not occur within ten (10) feet of any entrance to a building or passageway outside any enclosed area.
SECTION 6. (The following provision shall be applicable in the following six (6) Mississippi counties: Harrison, Hancock, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George:)
(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act to the contrary, the following areas shall not be subject to the smoking restrictions of this act:
(a) Bars;
(b) Private residences, except when used as a licensed child care facility;
(c) Hotel and motel rooms;
(d) Retail tobacco stores;
(e) Restaurants, hotel and motel conference or meeting rooms, and public and private assembly rooms while these places are being used for private functions;
(f) Any facility operated by an entity licensed by the Mississippi Gaming Commission, except for restaurants located in such facilities which shall be subject to the smoking restrictions of this act; and
(g) All public schools and campuses within the State of Mississippi regulated under Section 97-32-25 et seq.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment described in this section may declare that the entire establishment is a nonsmoking establishment.
SECTION 7. (The following provision shall be applicable in the following six (6) Mississippi counties: Harrison, Hancock, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George:)
(1) Every public place where smoking is prohibited by this act shall have posted at every entrance a conspicuous sign clearly stating that smoking is prohibited.
(2) All ashtrays and other smoking paraphernalia shall be removed from any area where smoking is prohibited by this act by the owner, operator, manager or other person having control of that area.
SECTION 8. (The following provision shall be applicable in the following six (6) Mississippi counties: Harrison, Hancock, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George:)
The State Board of Health shall adopt and promulgate regulations and penalties regarding the violations of this act not later than ninety (90) days after the effective date of this act.
SECTION 9. (The following provision shall be applicable in the following six (6) Mississippi counties: Harrison, Hancock, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George:)
A person or employer shall not discharge, refuse to hire or in any manner retaliate against any employee, applicant for employment or customer because the employee, applicant or customer exercises any right to a smoke-free environment afforded by this act.
SECTION 10. (The following provision shall be applicable in the following six (6) Mississippi counties: Harrison, Hancock, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George:)
This act shall not be interpreted or construed to permit smoking where it is otherwise restricted by other applicable laws or to prohibit any municipality or county from adopting additional ordinances with regard to the use of smoking in public places.
SECTION 11. This act shall not be construed as amending or repealing Section 97-35-1(4).
SECTION 12. Section 97-32-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-32-27. (1) "Adult" means any natural person at least eighteen (18) years old.
(2) "Minor" means any natural person under the age of eighteen (18) years.
(3) "Person" means any natural person.
(4) "Tobacco product" means any substance that contains tobacco, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars, pipes, snuff, smoking tobacco or smokeless tobacco.
(5) "Educational property" means any public or private school building or bus, public school campus, grounds, recreational area, athletic field or other property owned, used or operated by any local school board, school or directors for the administration of any public or private educational institution or during a school-related activity; provided, however, that the term "educational property" shall not include any sixteenth section school land or lieu land on which is not located a public school building, public school campus, public school recreational area or public school athletic field. Educational property shall not include property owned or operated by the state institutions of higher learning, the public community and junior colleges, or vocational-technical complexes.
SECTION 13. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2007.