HUNTINGTON BEACH : Panel to Review City Smoking Ordinance
The City Council has formed a committee to review the city’s smoking ordinance, which allows restaurants to set aside 25% of dining space as no-smoking areas.
The committee will include Councilwoman Linda Moulton-Patterson, who says that secondhand tobacco smoke has become a major health threat and is seeking to expand no-smoking areas at eating establishments.
The committee will also be made up of restaurant owners, members of the public and representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, the Orange County Health Department and the American Cancer Society.
Moulton-Patterson attempted to push through an ordinance last year that would have made 50% of dining areas off limits to smokers but was voted down by council colleagues.
Recent federal studies spelling out the harmful effects of secondhand smoke have made new regulations more important than ever, Moulton-Patterson said.
She said statistics show that 82% of Orange County residents are nonsmokers. But the current city ordinance allows smokers to occupy 75% of restaurant space.
The new committee is expected to start work in about two weeks, Moulton-Patterson said.
It will look into the “medical realities” of tobacco smoke and attempt to ease the fears of restaurant owners who may believe that smoking restrictions will hurt their business, she said.
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