AGENDA DATE: 2/3/2021
TITLE:
Title
Ordinance to Amend Article 3, Smoking, Chapter 7, Health and Safety, of the Albemarle County Code
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Public hearing to consider the adoption of an ordinance to amend County Code Chapter 7, Health and Safety, Article 3, Smoking
ITEM TYPE: Regular Action Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Walker, Henry, Kamptner
PRESENTER (S): Greg Kamptner
LEGAL REVIEW: Yes
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: The General Assembly considered a number of bills in the 1980s regarding smoking. By 1989, no statewide legislation on the topic had succeeded with one limited exception. At the time, smoking could be regulated by localities. Realizing that further statewide bills would be forthcoming, in 1989 the General Assembly adopted HB 601 (Goode), which imposed a statewide moratorium on local regulation of smoking that became effective on July 1, 1989. On June 7, 1989, the Board of Supervisors adopted the smoking regulations that currently compose Article 3 of Chapter 7 of the County Code. The County was among 16 Virginia localities regulating smoking when the statewide moratorium on local regulation took effect.
The 1990 Virginia Indoor Clean Air Act, HB 1055 (Cranwell) required that government-owned buildings provide reasonable no-smoking areas, established mandatory provisions for any local ordinances, but otherwise preempted local ordinances not adopted before the statewide moratorium was imposed. The Act required that any restaurant with more than 50 seats to designate a no-smoking area sufficient for customer demand as determined by management.
In 2009, the 1990 Virginia Indoor Clean Air Act was repealed and was replaced by a new Virginia Indoor Clean Air Act. The 2009 Act continued to allow local ordinances such as Albemarle County's that were adopted prior to January 1, 1990, to continue in effect, even if they were inconsistent with the 2009 Act. The primary purpose of the 2009 Act w...
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