Pennsylvania Clean Indoor Air Act of 1988

Section 10.1. Clean Indoor Air.

(a) The purpose of this section is to protect the public health and to provide for the comfort of all parties by regulating and controlling smoking in certain public places and at public meetings and in certain workplaces.

(b) As used in this section, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection:

"Bar areas" means those areas which are devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by guests on the premises and in which the serving of food is only incidental to the consumption of such beverages.

"Public meetings" means all meetings open to the public pursuant to the act of July 3, 1986 (P.L.388, No.84), known as the "Sunshine Act."

"Public place" means either of the following:

(1) An enclosed, indoor area owned or operated by a State or local governmental agency and used by the general public or serving as a place of work for public employes or a meeting place for a public body, including an office, educational facility, health facility, auditorium, arena, meeting room or public conveyance.

(2) An enclosed, indoor area which is not owned or operated by a State or local governmental agency, which is used by the general public and which is any of the following:

(i) A workplace.

(ii) An educational facility.

(iii) A health facility.

(iv) An auditorium.

(v) An arena.

(vi) A theater.

(vii) A museum.

(viii) A restaurant.

(ix) A concert hall.

(x) Any other facility during the period of its use for a performance or exhibit of the arts.

"Restaurant" means any eating establishment which offers food for sale to the public.

"Smoking" means the carrying by a person of a lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe or other lighted smoking device.

"Workplace" means an enclosed, indoor area serving as a place of employment, occupation, business, trade, craft or profession.

(c) No person shall smoke in an area designated nonsmoking by the proprietor or person in charge in a public place or at a public meeting.

(d) The following places shall be exempt from this section:

(1) Private social functions where the area utilized is under the control of the sponsor and not the proprietor.

(2) Factories, warehouses and similar places of work not frequented by the general public.

(3) Restaurants seating fewer than seventy-five (75) persons.

(4) Bar areas in a liquor licensee establishment.

(5) Areas in public places commonly referred to as lobbies and hallways.

(6) Hotel and motel rooms.

(7) Retail stores, the primary business of which is the sale of tobacco or tobacco-related products.

(e) The regulation of smoking in restaurants with seventy-five (75) or more seats shall be governed by the following:

(1) Restaurants shall provide for their patrons smoking and nonsmoking areas reasonably calculated to address the needs of their clientele, the size of which may be increased or decreased, by the proprietor or person in charge, according to need.

(2) Restaurants shall make reasonable efforts to prevent smoking in the designated nonsmoking section by:

(i) Posting appropriate signs which are readily visible. The color, size and placement of the signs shall be left to the discretion of the proprietor or person in charge in keeping with the decor or aesthetics of the establishment.

(ii) Arranging seating so that smokers and nonsmokers are placed in contiguous groupings.

(iii) Asking smokers to refrain from smoking in the nonsmoking areas.

(f) The regulation of smoking in restaurants with fewer than seventy-five (75) seats shall be left to the discretion of the proprietor, provided that:

(1) Restaurants which choose not to provide a nonsmoking area nor develop a no-smoking policy based upon customer preference shall post notice of such lack of policy at each entranceway.

(2) Restaurants which choose to provide a nonsmoking area shall develop a policy in accordance with subsection (e).

(g) Except as otherwise provided in this section, employers shall develop, post and implement a policy to regulate smoking in the workplace, provided that nothing in this section or any local law, rule or regulation shall be construed as to impair or diminish or otherwise affect any contractual agreement, collective bargaining agreement, collective bargaining rights or collective bargaining procedures. The employer shall provide a copy of the policy to any employe upon request.

(h) No proprietor or person in charge of a public place who establishes a policy or designates areas pursuant to this section shall be subject to any action in any court by any party other than the Department of Health or local board or department of health under this section.

(i) A violation of this section shall be punishable by a civil fine of not more than fifty dollars ($50.00).

(j) The Department of Health shall promulgate and adopt rules and regulations as are necessary and reasonable to implement the provisions of this section.

(10.1 added Dec. 21, 1988, P.L.1315, No.168)

Section 1235. Enforcement

The provisions of this act shall apply to every building enumerated in this act, including buildings owned, in whole or in part, by the Commonwealth, or any political subdivision thereof, and shall be enforced by the Secretary of Labor and Industry, by and through his authorized representatives: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed as affecting buildings in cities of the first class, second class, and second class A . . .

Section 1235.1. Preemption

(a) This act shall preempt and supercede any local ordinance or rule concerning the subject matter of sections 1223.5 and 1230.1 of this act.

(b) This act shall preempt and supersede any local ordinance or rule concerning the subject matter of section 1230.1 of this act except that:

(1) The provisions of section 1230.1 of this act shall not apply to local rules or ordinances concerning the subject matter of section 1230.1 of this act which have been adopted by cities of the second class and were in effect prior ro September 1, 1988.

(2) In the event that the local rule or ordinance is amended, suspended, rescinded or rendered, in whole or in part, ineffective by a court decision, the exemption shall not apply; and the city of the second class shall be subject to the provisions of section 1230.1 of this act.