The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 18: Health

Chapter 037: Smoking in Public Places

• § 1741. Definitions

  As used in this chapter:

  (1) “Tobacco products” shall have the meaning given in 7 V.S.A. § 1001.

  (2) “A place of public access” means any place of business, commerce, banking, financial service, or other service-related activity, whether publicly or privately owned and whether operated for profit or not, to which the general public has access or which the general public uses. The term includes:

  (A) buildings;

  (B) offices;

  (C) means of transportation;

  (D) common carrier waiting rooms;

  (E) arcades;

  (F) restaurants, bars, and cabarets;

  (G) retail stores;

  (H) grocery stores;

  (I) libraries;

  (J) theaters, concert halls, auditoriums, and arenas;

  (K) barber shops and hair salons;

  (L) laundromats;

  (M) shopping malls;

  (N) museums and art galleries;

  (O) sports and fitness facilities;

  (P) planetariums;

  (Q) historical sites;

  (R) common areas of nursing homes and hospitals, including the lobbies, hallways, elevators, restaurants, restrooms, and cafeterias; and

  (S) buildings or facilities owned or operated by a social, fraternal, or religious club.

  (3) “Hospital” means a place devoted primarily to the maintenance and operation of diagnostic and therapeutic facilities for inpatient medical or surgical care of individuals suffering from illness, disease, injury, or deformity, or for obstetrics.

  (4) “Publicly owned buildings and offices” means enclosed indoor places or portions of such places owned, leased, or rented by State, county, or municipal governments, or by agencies supported by appropriation of, or by contracts or grants from, funds derived from the collection of federal, State, county, or municipal taxes.

  (5) “Tobacco substitutes” shall have the same meaning as in 7 V.S.A. § 1001. (Added 1993, No. 46, § 2; amended 2005, No. 34, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2005; 2013, No. 135 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2015, No. 108 (Adj. Sess.), § 3.)

• § 1742. Restrictions on smoking in public places

  (a) The possession of lighted tobacco products or use of tobacco substitutes in any form is prohibited in:

  (1) the common areas of all enclosed indoor places of public access and publicly owned buildings and offices;

  (2) all enclosed indoor places in lodging establishments used for transient traveling or public vacationing, such as resorts, hotels, and motels, including sleeping quarters and adjoining rooms rented to guests;

  (3) designated smoke-free areas of property or grounds owned by or leased to the State or a municipality; and

  (4) any other area within 25 feet of State-owned buildings and offices, except that to the extent that any portion of the 25-foot zone is not on State property, smoking is prohibited only in that portion of the zone that is on State property unless the owner of the adjoining property chooses to designate his or her property smoke-free.

  (b) The possession of lighted tobacco products or use of tobacco substitutes in any form is prohibited on the grounds of any hospital or secure residential recovery facility owned or operated by the State, including all enclosed places in the hospital or facility and the surrounding outdoor property.

  (c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to restrict the ability of residents of the Vermont Veterans’ Home to possess lighted tobacco products or use tobacco substitutes in the indoor area of the facility in which smoking is permitted.

  (d) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit the use of tobacco substitutes in a business that does not sell food or beverages but is established for the sole purpose of providing a setting for patrons to purchase and use tobacco substitutes and related paraphernalia. (Added 1993, No. 46, § 2; amended 2013, No. 135 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 2015, No. 108 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2017, No. 130 (Adj. Sess.), § 8.)

• § 1743. Exceptions

  The restrictions in this chapter on possession of lighted tobacco products and use of tobacco substitutes do not apply to areas not commonly open to the public of owner-operated businesses with no employees. (Added 1993, No. 46, § 2; amended 2005, No. 34, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2005; 2009, No. 32, § 3; 2015, No. 108 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.)

• § 1744. Repealed. 2005, No. 34, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 2005.

• § 1745. Enforcement

  A proprietor, or the agent or employee of a proprietor, who observes a person in possession of lighted tobacco products or using tobacco substitutes in apparent violation of this chapter shall ask the person to extinguish all lighted tobacco products or cease using the tobacco substitutes. If the person persists in the possession of lighted tobacco products or use of tobacco substitutes, the proprietor, agent, or employee shall ask the person to leave the premises. (Added 1993, No. 46, § 2; amended 2015, No. 108 (Adj. Sess.), § 6.)

• § 1746. Municipal ordinances

  Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to supersede or in any manner affect a municipal smoking ordinance, provided that the provisions of such ordinance are at least as protective of the rights of nonsmokers as the provisions of this chapter. (Added 1993, No. 46, § 2.)