County Extends Smoking Ban in Buildings, Jails : Health: Sheriff gets a 1-year reprieve to enforce measure on inmates. Smokers are limited to 20% of space in restaurants in county-owned structures.

The Board of Supervisors approved an extension of Orange County’s anti-smoking law Tuesday, voting to ban smoking in most county buildings--including all five jails--and further restricting it at John Wayne Airport.

“We’re working toward a smokeless society, and this is just one step,” said Tom Uram, director of the County Health Care Agency. “We think this will help clean up our workplace for our employees.”

The new law toughens up smoking regulations in a variety of areas. Though it will affect only a handful of private businesses, it clamps down on thousands of government workers, residents who use county services and inmates in the county’s jails.

Under the new law, which was unanimously approved but must return to the board for a formal reading again next week, designated smoking areas inside county buildings will be closed next month. Workers and visitors to county buildings will have to go outside to light up.

In the county’s jails, prisoners will be given a year’s reprieve. But after that, they will lose the right to smoke altogether, making Orange County’s jail system one of a growing number that prohibit inmates from lighting up.

Restaurants in county-owned or leased space will also be affected. As a result, John Wayne Airport’s main restaurant will have to cut back its smoking area markedly, transforming most of the establishment from a smoking section into a nonsmoking section. Smoking, however, will still be permitted in the cocktail lounges.

A dozen restaurants in Dana Point Harbor, where merchants lease their land from the county, may be affected, but county officials were unsure Tuesday about the law’s reach into that area.

Representatives of the county counsel’s office said they believed those restaurants would be affected, but officials with the county Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department said they believed those restaurants would be unaffected.

Any restaurant in a county building that can seat 50 patrons or more--such as the cafeteria in the County Courthouse--will have to set aside 80% of its seats for nonsmokers. Under the current law, only 20% of the seats can be reserved for nonsmokers.

Tuesday’s vote makes Orange County the latest in a growing number of local governments that have taken steps to restrict smoking by workers and restaurant patrons. But while such measures have stirred angry opposition in some areas, the Board of Supervisors approved its ordinance without any member of the public rising to speak against it.

Told later of the board action, however, some critics did voice their opposition.

“We’re disappointed,” said Terry Eagan, regional vice president of the Tobacco Institute, a trade association that represents cigarette and tobacco manufacturers. “We know from scientific experimentation that secondhand smoke makes up less than 2% of the air quality in an indoor environment.”

Those questions were not even addressed in Tuesday’s meeting. Uram offered to outline the dangers of secondhand smoke for the supervisors. But the board members, four of whom are former smokers, did not ask for elaboration.

In fact, the only real debate among the supervisors was over how tightly to restrict smoking in restaurants that are under the county’s wing.

The county staff had not originally dealt with the issue of smoking in restaurants, but Board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez suggested that 80% of the seats be reserved for nonsmokers. Supervisor Roger R. Stanton then jumped into the debate to propose an outright smoking ban in restaurants.

That suggestion, however, was dismissed after Airport Manager Jan Mittermeier said travelers at the airport have few options if they want a cigarette before takeoff. Smoking is only allowed in the restaurant and the cocktail lounges at either end of the terminal.

“We have travelers who smoke who are nervous,” Mittermeier said. “They can’t get outside there, so we’re severely limiting them.”

Stanton relented, though both he and Vasquez said they hoped Tuesday’s action would pave the way for an eventual smoking ban at all county facilities, including restaurants.

Of all the changes, the smoking ban at the jail is being handled the most carefully. Many inmates smoke, and officials worry that abruptly eliminating that privilege could be a problem.

“We would like to have a riot-less transformation,” Uram told the board.

Assistant Sheriff John Hewitt agreed. “We are in complete agreement with the ordinance,” he said. “What we don’t want is to cause an incident.”

To do that, the Sheriff’s Department was given a year before it must ban smoking in the county’s five jails. During that time, the department will work with the county medical staff to help inmates kick their habits.

But Thomas Maniscalco, a nonsmoker who is one of Orange County’s senior jail inmates, said that even with a year’s delay, the smoking ban will meet with stiff opposition from inmates and will create even more tension in the overcrowded jails.

Many inmates smoke heavily, Maniscalco said, and some of them get jumpy if they are denied cigarettes.

“This is just another deprivation,” said Maniscalco, who is awaiting a retrial in a 1980 Westminster triple-murder case. “It may affect people in the courthouse, but not like it affects inmates. It affects inmates a lot more because we can’t leave.”

Smoking Restrictions in O.C.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday expanded its anti-smoking ordinance that, in part, requires restaurants in county-owned buildings that have a capacity to serve 50 people or more to set aside 80% of their facilities for nonsmokers. The following are the cities in the county that have enacted similar restrictions:

Anaheim--An “adequate” number of tables must be nonsmoking in restaurants with a 50-or-more capacity.

Brea--At least 50% of the tables must be nonsmoking in all restaurants.

Cypress--At least 25% of the tables must be nonsmoking in all restaurants.

Huntington Beach--At least 25% of the tables must be nonsmoking in restaurants with a 50-or-more capacity.

Irvine--At least 40% of the tables must be nonsmoking in restaurants with a 40-or-more capacity.

Laguna Beach--At least 60% of the tables must be nonsmoking in all restaurants.

Newport Beach--At least 25% of the tables must be nonsmoking in restaurants with a 50-or-more capacity.

San Clemente--At least 50% of the tables must be nonsmoking in all restaurants.

Yorba Linda--At least 33% of the tables must be nonsmoking in restaurants with a 40-or-more capacity.

Researched by Kathie Bozanich / Los Angeles Times