Supervisors OK Motion on Wide Smoking Ban

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a motion that, if adopted as an ordinance, would ban smoking in more than 1,800 buildings that house county operations and public services.

Under the motion, neither county workers nor members of the public would be allowed to smoke in the buildings.

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, who introduced the measure, noted that in 1985 the board adopted an ordinance that restricted smoking to designated areas. “Given the reports on the adverse health effects of passive smoke, the benefits of quitting smoking, and the increase in the number of complaints from nonsmoking county employees regarding second-hand smoke exposure in their workplace, the board should instruct that all county departments implement a policy which imposes an outright ban on smoking in all indoor places,” Hahn wrote.