LOS ANGELES : Fire Department to Help City Enforce Smoking Ban
The Los Angeles City Council has asked the Fire Department to help enforce a state law that bans smoking in most indoor workplaces.
The council corrected an oversight that occurred when officials didn’t select a local agency to enforce Assembly Bill 13, as the law requires city councils and county boards of supervisors to do.
As a result, AB 13 was not enforced in Los Angeles after the law took effect Jan. 1, although City Atty. James Hahn’s staff continued to field formal complaints.
The council set aside $9,000 for Hahn to hire a law clerk, who will help fire officials with a public education program. The Fire Department also received $12,500 for a car that inspectors can use when they go out into the field.
Employers who do not comply with the law can be fined $100 for the first citation, $200 for another violation within 12 months and $500 for a third offense the same year.
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