Long Beach Council OKs Wide Ban on Smoking
The Long Beach City Council Tuesday passed what promises to be one of the strictest anti-smoking ordinances in the state, outlawing smoking in all restaurants by Jan. 1, 1994.
The law--which won the preliminary approval of nine councilmen, all of them nonsmokers--would require, as an interim step, restaurants to more than double the size of their nonsmoking sections from one-quarter to two-thirds of available seating. It would also ban smoking in all workplaces, public and private, and would prohibit cigarette vending machines in any area accessible to minors.
Tobacco billboards would be outlawed within 500 feet of schools, places of worship, hospitals and certain other buildings. The law expands a city ordinance passed in 1985. Violators could be fined at least $50 and multiple violations could result in misdemeanor charges.
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