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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 10315~~ r ~ ~ i ORDINANCE 'N O. ~~~~~ AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 29.5, "SMOKING", OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS (19$6), AS AMENDED; ADDING A DEFINITION OF "CASHIER AREA"; REQUIR- ING EMPLOYERS TO IMPLEMENT WRITTEN POLICIES FOR TH E REGULATION OF SMOKTNG IN THE WORKPLACE; AMENDING PROVI- SIONS CONCERNING RESPONSIBILITY FOR REPORTING VIOLA- TIONS AND TAKING ACTION; PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE IS CUMULATIVE OF ALL ORDINANCES; PROVIDING A SEVERABILIT Y CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION IN PAMPHLET FORM; PROVIDING FOR ENGROSSMENT AND ENROLL- MENT; PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL NEWS- PAPER; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION 1 . That Chapter 29.5, "Smoking", of the City Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (1986) be and is hereby amended as follows: 1. Section 29.5-1, Definitions, is amended by adding the following new definition: Cashier area means the area immediately adjacent to and extending for a seven foot radius from an y cash regis- ter, customer service window, pharmacy area, meat counter or other area where goods or services are paid for or where goods are exchanged. 2. Section 29.5-4, Regulation of Smoking in the Work- place, is changed to read as follows: Sec. 29.5-4, Regulation of smoking in the workplace. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 29.5-2 and 29.5-3, all employers shall adopt, maintain and enforce a written smoking policy for the workplace which complies with this section. Such policy shall meet the following minimum standards but may be more stringent than what is required herein. (1 ) The policy shall provide that a smoke-free workplace shall be available for a . employees who so desire but shall also exhaust all reasonable means of accommodation for smoking employees. (2) The policy shall designate those areas in which smoking is prohibited or permitted. (3) No designated smoking areas shall be located in common use areas such as conference areas, waiting rooms, meeting rooms, restrooms, halls, stairways, lobbies or areas to which the public routinely has access. An employer may, however, have a policy which permits smoking in a conference or meeting room if all parties in the room agree that smoking shall be permitted. If only one person does not agree to others smoking in such a conference or meeting room, smoking shall be prohibited to everyone in the room. (4) T he employer shall place signs at the entrances to the place of business with the universal symbol and wording to indicate that smoking is prohibited or permitted only in designated areas which must also be posted with appropriate signs. Such signs shall read "No Smoking," "No Smoking, City Code Section 29.5-4," "No Smoking Except in Designated Areas," "Smoking is Prohibited in This Building" or similar wording . (5) T he employer shall provide facilities for the extinguishment of smoking materials in sufficient numbers and at such locations as to be readily accessible. (6) The policy shall be available for inspection by employees and the director or his authorized representative. (7) Any employee who violates the provisions of an employer's smoking policy shall be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with the employer's usual and customary policies and procedures. (8) All employers shall adopt a written policy concerning smoking in the workplace and shall comply with Section 29.5-4 (a) not later than August 1, 1989. Employers who require additional time for adoption of a policy and _2_ l compliance with shown , obtain an 12 months, from such section may, for good cause extension of time, not to exceed the director. (b) It shall be unlawful for any person, other than an employee who is subject to disiciplinar y action under Section 29.5-4 (a) (7) , to violate the provisions of an employer's written smoking policy, adopted and maintained in accordance with Section 29.5-4(a}. (1) It shall be a defense to prosecution under this Section that the workplace does not have prominently displayed reasonably sized signs indicating that smoking is prohibited. (2) It shall also be a defense to prosecution under this section that facilities for the extinguishment of smoking materials were not located in said workplace in sufficient numbers and at such locations as to be readily accessible. (c) It shall be unlawful for an employer to fail to adopt, maintain or enforce a written policy for smoking in the workplace in accordance with Section 29-5.4(a), or to fail or refuse to comply with any of the other requirements of Section 29.5-4(a). 3. Section 29.5-5, Responsibility for Reporting Violations and Taking action, is changed to read as follows: Sec. 29.5-5. Responsibility for reporting violations and taking action . (a) This chapter does not require that the owner, operator, manager or any employee of an establishment report a violation or take any action against any indi- vidual violating Sections 29.5-1 through 29.5-3. No such failure by an owner, operator, manager or employee to report a violation or to take action against an individual for violating Sections 29.5-1 through 29.5-3 shall constitute a violation of this Chapter. (b) The responsibility of an employer, operator, manager or other person in control of the workplace for enforcement of regulations and reporting violations concerning smoking in the workplace shall be as pro- vided in Section 29.5-4(c). No such employer, operator, manager or other person in control of the workplace shall, however, be required to report a violation of -3- L Section 29.5-4(b} or take any action against a person for violating such section. 4. Section 29.5-6, Penalties, is amended to read as follows: Sec. 29.5-6. Penalties. (a) An y person violating Section 29.5-2(a), upon conviction, is punishable by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars ($200.00) (b) Any person violating Section 29.5-2(b), 29.5-2(c), 29.5-3, 29.5-4(b) or 29.5-4(c), upon convic- tion, is punishable by a fine of not less than twenty- five dollars ($25.00) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200.00); provided, however, in the event a person has previously been convicted of a violation of the same section, such person shall be fined not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for a second conviction hereunder, and shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00 nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) for a third conviction of a violation of the same section and for each conviction thereafter. SECT ION 2 . That Chapter 29.5 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, as amended, shall remain in full force and effect, save and except as amended by this ordinance. SECTION 3 . This ordinance shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances and of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (1986), as amended, except where the provisions of this ordinance are in direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, in which event conflicting provisions of such ordi- nances and such Code are hereby repealed. -4- ~ ' ~ SECTION 4 . It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this ordinance shall be declared unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality shall not affect an y of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without the incorporation in this ordinance of any such unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section. SECTION 5 . All rights and remedies of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, are expressly saved as to any and all violations of the provi- sions of Chapter 29.5, as amended, or any other ordinances affecting smoking which have accrued at the time of the effective date of this ordinance; and, as to such accrued violations and all pending litigation, both civil and criminal, whether pending in court or not, under such ordinances, same shall not be affected by this ordinance but may be prosecuted until final disposition by the courts. SECTION 6 . The City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, is hereby authorized to publish this ordinance in pamphlet form for general distribution among the public, and the operative pravi- -5- ~ ~ Y ~ ~ ~ sions of this ordinance as so published shall be admissible in evidence in all courts without further proof than the production thereof, as provided in Chapter XXV, Section 3, of the Charter of the City of Fort Worth,-Texas. SECT ION 7 . The City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth is hereby directed to engross and enroll this ordinance by copying the caption and Sections 1, 2, 8 and 9 in the minutes of the City Council and by filing the ordinance in the ordinance records of the City. SECT ION 8. The City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, is hereby directed to publish the caption and Sections 1, 2, 8 and 9 of this ordinance for two (2) days in the official newspaper of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, as authorized by Section 52.413, Texas Local Government Code. SECT ION 9 . This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage and publication as required by law, and it is so ordained. APPROVED AS TO FO AND LEGALITY: City Attorney Date : 5 ' ~ ~ ' ~ `~ ADOPTED: ~~ EFFECTIVE: l -6- MrYSFEAt FNLE-! ~. ~. ACCOUNTING•2 is ~ TRANSPORTA;IQId,{Pt/9/C WORI{>1.~ HATER ADMiNIS1RATi0N • CITT MANAOER•1 CI1M(rl /ROSECUTINB AT Ea1lE J10NINISIR)1 ~p11Gf %IONINISr .C1ilEE ttunstE+y pity ®~' ~®rt ~U®rth, ~'"~x~~ DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT AMENDMENT OF CHAPTER 29.5, PAGE 5{30/89 ' NUMBER G-8054 '°SMOKING," OF THE FORT WORTH 1 of 1 ..L ORNE OW]I SOMME NDATION . It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached ordinance amending Chapter 29.5, "Smoking," of the Fort Wor th City Code (1986). DISCUSSION: In March of this year, City Council dir ected the City Manager's staff and the Department of Law to reactivate the committee formed to draft the City's No Smoking Ordinance to review proposed c hanges to that ordinance. The proposed changes would clarify a provision in the ordinance and would require employers to adopt written policies reg ulating smoking in the work place. The committee met throughout April and made several suggestions for revisions to the ordinance. The original proposed changes are before you in the attached ordinance. WA w/6 Attachment APPRQVED BY CITY COUNCIL MAV go sea J ~l~,~.. City Sear~ta>7t of tb~ Cftp of Fort Worth, Tau ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT HEAD: Ramon GUaJardO DISPOSITION BY COUNCIL. ^ APPROVED PROCESSED BY SUBMITTED FOR THE ABYGER'S Ramon Guajardo ^ OTHER (DESCRIBE) ITY SECRETARY OF ICE C FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION R. Gua ardo 6143 CONTACT J ,~ rV~ 03I Q ~~ Q~Y~~~~ NO. DATE