Didn't see this on the Signs Page recently - a friend sent it to me. I do remember reading something about it when the law passed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060316/us_nm/life_smoking_dc
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060316/us_nm/life_smoking_dc
Calif. city imposes second-hand smoke law By Jill Serjeant said:Wed Mar 15, 7:38 PM ET
It's already banned in California offices, restaurants and on miles of beaches, but on Friday the rural city of Calabasas goes a step further.
The town has enacted the first law in the United States banning smoking on streets, at bus stops and in all other public places where people can be exposed to second-hand smoke.
"People have a right to breathe clean air. It is time to stand up to the challenges, the critics and to tobacco interests," Calabasas Mayor Barry Groveman told a news conference on Wednesday.
The law passed unanimously last month by the city council in the affluent canyon community of 21,000 people northwest of Los Angeles.
The ban means an end to smokers huddling outside the entrances of offices, lighting up on outdoor restaurant patios, or puffing on their apartment balconies if they are near common areas such as pools or laundry rooms.
From Friday, smokers will be asked to go to designated areas, or will be handed small cards outlining the new law. Persistent offenders risk fines of up to $500.
"We don't anticipate any problems with compliance. We are hearing nothing but positive comments," said Groveman, adding he hoped other U.S. cities would follow the lead of Calabasas.
Supported by the American Cancer Society, Heart Association and Lung Association, the Calabasas ordinance follows a landmark January decision by the California Air Resources Board to classify second-hand tobacco smoke as a "toxic air contaminant."
Health officials say a series of California laws dating back 10 years that banned smoking inside restaurants, bars and in the workplace are not enough to protect people from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.
San Francisco already prohibits smoking in parks and Los Angeles and Malibu last year cracked down on the habit on more than 40 miles of beaches.
California's environmental health office estimates that as many as 5,500 nonsmoking Californians die annually of heart disease related to second-hand smoke, and as many as 1,100 from lung cancer.
"Having a smoking area in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a swimming pool," said Dr. Thomas Pfeffer of the American Heart Association in Los Angeles.