Report Title:

Workplace Smoking; Exceptions; Employer Policies

 

Description:

Requires employers with 2 or more employees to adopt a smoking policy. Prohibits smoking in enclosed areas of state-owned or state-controlled workplaces and all state-owned or state-leased vehicles; does not apply to dining areas of restaurants, bars, and hotel guest rooms. Does not regulate smoking in residential accommodation in building owned, leased or rented by the State.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

132

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to smoking in the workplace.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Section 328K-12, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definitions of "employer", "enclosed", and "office workplace" to read as follows:

""Employer" means [any]:

(1) All state [or] and county [agency, or any] agencies; and

(2) Any private corporation, firm, or association [which receives state funds under chapter 42F or chapter 103F.] that employs two or more persons.

"Enclosed" means closed in by a roof and four walls with openings for ingress and egress. Areas commonly described as [public] lobbies are [not] enclosed for the purposes of this chapter. Roofed malls are not enclosed for the purposes of this chapter.

["Office workplace"] "Workplace" means any enclosed structure or portion thereof used by an employer[.], excluding a partially enclosed structure."

SECTION 2. Section 328K-13, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§328K-13[]] Regulation of smoking in the [office] workplace. (a) Each employer in the State shall within three months after June 24, 1987, adopt, implement, and maintain a written smoking policy which shall contain, at the minimum, the following provisions and requirements:

(1) That if any nonsmoking employee objects to the employer about smoke in the employee's workplace, the employer, using already available means of ventilation or separation or partition of office space, shall attempt to reach a reasonable accommodation, insofar as possible, between the preferences of nonsmoking and smoking employees; provided that an employer is not required by this chapter to make any expenditures or structural changes to accommodate the preferences of nonsmoking or smoking employees; and

(2) That if an accommodation which is satisfactory to all affected employees cannot be reached in any given [office] workplace, the preferences of a simple majority of employees in each specifically affected area shall prevail and the employer shall accordingly prohibit or allow smoking in that particular area of the [office] workplace. If the employer's decision is unsatisfactory to the nonsmoking employees, a simple majority of all nonsmoking employees can appeal to the director of health for the determination of a reasonable accommodation. Where the employer prohibits smoking in [an office] a workplace, the area in which smoking is prohibited shall be clearly marked with signs. Smoking is prohibited in all enclosed areas of state-owned or state-controlled workplaces and all state-owned or leased vehicles.

(b) The smoking policy shall be announced within two weeks of the vote of preferences of the employees in each respective work area and posted conspicuously in all the affected workplaces.

(c) This section shall not apply to dining areas of food service establishments and bars, or to meeting or banquet rooms in hotels, motels, or other lodging establishments when used for private functions, or to convention center facilities when used for private functions or to the guest rooms of a hotel/hotel-condo as defined in section 486K-1."

SECTION 3. Section 328K-14, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§328K-14[]] Where smoking not regulated. This chapter does not regulate smoking in the following places and under the following conditions within the State:

(1) Any property owned or leased by federal governmental entities; [or]

(2) [Private enclosed office workplaces occupied exclusively by smokers, even though such office workplaces may be visited by nonsmokers,] Workplaces located in private residences, excepting places in which smoking is prohibited by a county fire department or by other law, ordinance, rule, or regulation[.]; or

(3) Any residential accommodation for persons voluntarily or involuntarily residing, on a temporary or long-term basis, in a building owned, leased, or rented by the State."

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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