Bill Text: CA SB332 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Rental dwellings: smoking.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-09-06 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 264, Statutes of 2011. [SB332 Detail]
Download: California-2011-SB332-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 332 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 264
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 6, 2011
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 6, 2011
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 15, 2011
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JULY 11, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 23, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 15, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 6, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 3, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 14, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Padilla
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Gordon and Williams)
FEBRUARY 15, 2011
An act to add Section 1947.5 to the Civil Code, relating to
tenancies.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 332, Padilla. Rental dwellings: smoking.
Existing law regulates the terms and conditions of residential
tenancies. Existing law authorizes the creation of antitobacco use
programs for school-age populations and prohibits any person from
smoking a cigarette, cigar, or other tobacco-related product, or from
disposing of cigarette butts, cigar butts, or any other
tobacco-related waste, within a playground.
This bill would authorize a landlord of a residential dwelling
unit to prohibit the smoking of tobacco products on the property, in
a dwelling unit, in another interior or exterior area, or on the
premises on which the dwelling unit is located. The bill would make
certain requirements on notices and leases executed on and after, and
on and before, January 1, 2012, in this regard. The bill would
require that a landlord who prohibits smoking pursuant to this
authority be subject to federal, state, and local requirements
governing changes to the terms of a lease or rental agreement for
tenants, as specified. The bill would provide that its provisions do
not preempt local ordinances in effect on or before January 1, 2012,
or a provision of a local ordinance on or after January 1, 2012, that
prohibits the smoking of cigarettes or other tobacco products.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) More than 443,000 people die in the United States from
tobacco-related diseases every year, making tobacco-related diseases
the nation's leading cause of preventable death.
(b) The State Department of Public Health has estimated that 86
percent of adult Californians are nonsmokers. Secondhand smoke is
responsible for an estimated 49,400 deaths among nonsmokers each year
in the United States, which includes 3,400 lung cancer deaths and
46,000 deaths due to heart disease. Secondhand smoke also has been
proven to cause cancer in humans.
(c) Secondhand smoke exposure adversely affects fetal growth with
elevated risk of low birth weight and increased risk of sudden infant
death syndrome (SIDS) in infants of mothers who smoke.
(d) Secondhand smoke exposure causes as many as 300,000 children
in the United States under 18 months of age to suffer lower
respiratory tract infections, such as pneumonia and bronchitis;
exacerbates childhood asthma; and increases the risk of acute,
chronic, middle-ear infections in children.
(e) The United States Environmental Protection Agency has
classified secondhand smoke as a group A carcinogen, the most
dangerous class of carcinogen.
(f) The United States Surgeon General has concluded that there is
no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
(g) The State Air Resources Board has put secondhand 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.
(h) The California Environmental Protection Agency has included
secondhand smoke on the Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to the
State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, and other
reproductive harm.
(i) Thirty-one percent of California's housing is multiunit
residences, such as apartments and condominiums.
SEC. 2. Section 1947.5 is added to the Civil Code, to read:
1947.5. (a) A landlord of a residential dwelling unit, as defined
in Section 1940, or his or her agent, may prohibit the smoking of a
cigarette, as defined in Section 104556 of the Health and Safety
Code, or other tobacco product on the property or in any building or
portion of the building, including any dwelling unit, other interior
or exterior area, or the premises on which it is located, in
accordance with this article.
(b) (1) Every lease or rental agreement entered into on or after
January 1, 2012, for a residential dwelling unit on property on any
portion of which the landlord has prohibited the smoking of
cigarettes or other tobacco products pursuant to this article shall
include a provision that specifies the areas on the property where
smoking is prohibited, if the lessee has not previously occupied the
dwelling unit.
(2) For a lease or rental agreement entered into before January 1,
2012, a prohibition against the smoking of cigarettes or other
tobacco products in any portion of the property in which smoking was
previously permitted shall constitute a change of the terms of
tenancy, requiring adequate notice in writing, to be provided in the
manner prescribed in Section 827.
(c) A landlord who exercises the authority provided in subdivision
(a) to prohibit smoking shall be subject to federal, state, and
local requirements governing changes to the terms of a lease or
rental agreement for tenants with leases or rental agreements that
are in existence at the time that the policy limiting or prohibiting
smoking is adopted.
(d) This section shall not be construed to preempt any local
ordinance in effect on or before January 1, 2012, or any provision of
a local ordinance in effect on or after January 1, 2012, that
restricts the smoking of cigarettes or other tobacco products.
(e) A limitation or prohibition of the use of any tobacco product
shall not affect any other term or condition of the tenancy, nor
shall this section be construed to require statutory authority to
establish or enforce any other lawful term or condition of the
tenancy.
