§ 731-020. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE

The Board of Supervisors of the County of Sutter hereby finds and declares the following:

(a)

Tobacco use causes death and disease and continues to be an urgent public health challenge, as evidenced by the fact that 480,000 people die prematurely in the United States from smoking-related diseases every year, making tobacco use the nation's leading cause of preventable death; and tobacco use can cause disease in nearly all organ systems and is responsible for 87% of lung cancer deaths, 79% of all chronic obstructive pulmonary disease deaths, and 32% of coronary heart disease deaths.

(b)

Second-hand smoke has been repeatedly identified as a health hazard, as evidenced by the fact that the U.S. Surgeon General concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second-hand smoke; the California Air Resources Board placed second-hand smoke in the same category as the most toxic automotive and industrial air pollutants by categorizing it as a toxic air contaminant for which there is no safe level of exposure; and, the California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) included second-hand smoke on the Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm.

(c)

Exposure to second-hand smoke anywhere has negative health impacts, and exposure to second-hand smoke occurs at significant levels outdoors, as evidenced by the fact that levels of second-hand smoke exposure outdoors can reach levels attained indoors depending on direction and amount of wind and number and proximity of smokers; and smoking cigarettes near building entryways can increase air pollution levels by more than two times background levels, with maximum levels reaching the "hazardous" range on the United States EPA's Air Quality Index; and, to be completely free from exposure to second-hand smoke in outdoor places, a person may have to move nearly 23 feet away from the source of the smoke, about the width of a two-lane road.

(d)

Exposure to second-hand smoke causes death and disease, as evidenced by the fact that since 1964, approximately 2.5 million nonsmokers have died from health problems caused by exposure to second-hand smoke; second-hand smoke is responsible for an estimated 41,300 heart disease-related and lung cancer-related deaths among adult nonsmokers each year in the United States; and, exposure to second-hand smoke increases the risk of coronary heart disease by about 25% to 30% and increases the risk of stroke by 20% to 30%.

(e)

Tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke impose great social and economic costs, as evidenced by the fact that between 2009 and 2012, the total annual economic burden of smoking in the United States was between $289 billion and $332.5 billion; from 2005 to 2009, the average annual health care expenditures attributable to smoking were approximately $132.5 billion to $175.9 billion in direct medical care costs for adults and $151 billion in lost productivity; the total annual cost of smoking in California was estimated at five hundred forty-eight dollars ($548.00) per resident or between two thousand two hundred sixty-two dollars ($2,262.00) and two thousand nine hundred four dollars ($2,904.00) per smoker per year; and, California's Tobacco Control Program saved the state and its residents $134 billion in health care expenditures between the year of its inception, 1989, and 2008, with savings growing yearly.

(f)

Laws restricting the use of tobacco products have recognizable benefits to public health and medical costs with a review of over 80 peer-reviewed research studies showing that smoke-free policies effectively reduce tobacco use; reduce exposure to second-hand smoke; increase the number of tobacco users who quit by a median of 3.8%; reduce initiation of tobacco use among young people; and, reduce tobacco-related illnesses and death.

(g)

Laws restricting electronic smoking devices use also have benefits to the public as evidenced by the fact that research has found at least ten chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, lead, nickel, and toluene; more than one study has concluded that exposure to vapor from electronic smoking devices may cause passive or second-hand vaping; the use of electronic smoking devices in smoke-free locations threatens to undermine compliance with smoking regulations and reverse the progress that has been made in establishing a social norm that smoking is not permitted in public places and places of employment; and, the State of California's Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee (TEROC) "opposes the use of e-cigarettes in all areas where other tobacco products are banned.

(h)

Cigarette butts are a major and persistent source of litter, as evidenced by the fact that in 2007, it was estimated that Americans consume 360 billion cigarettes each year; 55.7% of smokers admit to littering cigarettes in the last month; in an observational study of nearly 10,000 individuals, after cigarettes were smoked, 45% of cigarettes ended up as litter; in 2011, 22.6% of all debris collected from beaches and coastal areas are smoking related products; and, cigarette butts are often cast onto sidewalks and streets, and frequently end up in storm drains that flow into streams, rivers, bays, lagoons, and ultimately the ocean.

(i)

Cigarette butts pose a health threat to young children, as evidenced by the fact that in 2012, American poison control centers received nearly 8,648 reports of poisoning by the ingestion of cigarettes, cigarette butts, and other tobacco products and 84.5% of these poisonings were in children ages five and younger; and, children who ingest cigarette butts can experience vomiting, nausea, lethargy, and gagging.

(j)

California cities and counties have the legal authority to adopt local laws that make all indoor places of employment nonsmoking and there is no Constitutional right to smoke.

(k)

The purpose of this Chapter is to provide for the public health, safety, and welfare by discouraging the inherently dangerous behavior of smoking around non-tobacco users, especially children, by protecting the public from exposure to second-hand smoke where they live, work, and play; by reducing the potential for children to wrongly associate smoking with a healthy lifestyle; and, by affirming and promoting a healthy environment in the County of Sutter.

(Ord. No. 1646, § 1, 5-8-2018)