California: City Wants to Ban Smoking/Vaping in Private Apartments and Condominiums

The Carlsbad, California, City Council voted 4-1 to pass an ordinance that would ban smoking tobacco and cannabis products and vaping inside and outside private apartment and condominium buildings.

The new city law, passed earlier this week, will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025, and bans smoking in and around apartments, condominiums, health care facilities and other multi-family housing in Carlsbad. Some designated outdoor spaces will remain available for smokers. In its prescription, the city justifies its decision by saying that the delimitation of smoking and non-smoking areas, air purification and ventilation of buildings do not completely prevent exposure to passive smoking in a building.

Smoking bans in private spaces, a measure that is becoming more widespread in the United States

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)[1]In the United States, approximately 58 million people who do not smoke are still exposed to secondhand smoke. However, states have made significant progress in protecting nonsmokers from secondhand smoke exposure in indoor workplaces and public places through state and local laws.

 However, many people remain exposed to secondhand smoke in areas not covered by these policies, including private homes, which are the primary source of secondhand smoke exposure among children. Smoking-free policies in dwelling units and common areas of multifamily housing are legally permitted in the United States and are the most effective way to fully protect residents from involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke. Studies show that most multifamily residents comply with and support these policies.

Furthermore, implementing smoke-free policies can result in substantial cost savings for multi-family housing operators and society.

As of 2018, all public housing in the United States has been smoke-free, including single-family homes, and smoking is prohibited within 8 meters of these buildings.

Carlsbad, like 84 others cities California's cities, which have already passed similar bans, are seeking to extend these smoking bans to all multi-family buildings in the city, whether public or private. The city hopes to provide all of its residents with a pleasant living environment by protecting their health from exposure to second-hand and third-hand smoke. The city says the law allows for private enforcement, meaning that landlords and other tenants can take legal action against violators if they fail to comply with the ban.

California at the forefront of the fight against smoking

California has long been a leader in tobacco control. It has one of the lowest smoking rates in the United States (10%), just behind Utah (9%). Measures have been gradually strengthened in recent years, both at the state and city levels. On January 1, 2021, two California cities, Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach, implemented a complete ban on the sale of all tobacco products within their jurisdictions. They thus became the first localities in the United States to completely eliminate tobacco sales. A bill is currently being considered in the California Congress to ban the sale of tobacco products for people born in 2007 or later throughout the state.[2]. 

Recently, Santa Cruz County considered developing[3] an ordinance that would ban the sale of filtered tobacco products in the cities of Capitola, Watsonville, Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz and their unincorporated areas.

©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] STATE System Multiunit Housing Fact Sheet, CDC, accessed August 6, 2024

[2] Tobacco-free generation, California wants to become the first US state to completely ban tobacco sales, published March 28, 2023, accessed August 6, 2024

[3] Tobacco-free generation, California County Considers Banning Sale of Filtered Cigarettes, published July 19, 2024, accessed August 6, 2024