An Act To Strengthen the Workplace Smoking Laws and Other Laws Governing Smolting
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 1429
Committee: Health and Human Services
Sponsors: MILLS
Amends: 22 MRSA §1542, 22 MRSA §1580, 22 MRSA §1580-A, 22 MRSA §1825

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Legislative Document 
No. 1429 
S.P.513 
In Senate, April 7, 2009 
An Act To Strengthen the Workplace Smoking Laws and Other 
Laws Governing Smolting 
Reference to the Committee on Health and Human Services suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Senator MILLS of Somerset. 
Printed on recycled pnper 
9r~(J~ 
JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
lBe it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §1542, sub-§2,~, as enacted by PL 1993, c. 342, §1 and 
affected by §9, is repealed. 
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Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §1542,sub-§2,';fJ, a:s amended by PL 2005; c. 257, §4; is 
further amended to read: 
J. 
Smoking is not prohibited in a private residence, subject to section 1580-A, 
unless the private residence is used as a day care or baby-sitting service. If a private 
residence is used as a day care or baby-sitting service, smoking is prohibited: 
(1) In the residence, during the hours of operation as a day care or baby-sitting 
service;, 
(2) In outdoor areas on the property of that private residence, wherever a child 
under care may be present; and 
(3) During the facility's hours of operation, in a motor vehicle owned or operated 
by the facility whenever a child under carejs in the vehicle. 
Sec. 3. 22 MRSA §t"545-A is enacted to read: 
§1545-A. Exposure to secondhand smoke; nuisance and trespass 
Exposing another person nonconsensually to secondhand smoke in areas where 
smoking is prohibited is a nuisance and a trespass and may be enforced as a nuisance or 
as a trespass. 
. Sec. 4. 
MRSA §1580, as reallocated by PL 1983, c. 816, Pt. A, §15, IS 
repealed. 
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Sec. 5. 22 MRSA §1580-A, sub-§2, ~A, as enacted by PL 1985, c. X26, is 
amended to read: 
A. "Business facility" means a structurally enclosed location or portion thereof at 
which employees perform services for their employer. A business facility 5hall does 
not include any workplace or portion of a workplace whieh that also serves as the 
employee's or emplciyer's personal residence. 
A business facility is a place of 
employment. 
Notwithstanding this paragraph, a personal residence or Unit or 
apartment in a residential facility is a business facility only during the period of time 
that an employee is physically present to perform work there. A residential facility, 
nursing home or a hospital is a business facility. 
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Sec. 6. 22 MRSA §1580-A, sub-§2, EjfA-2 is enacted to read: 
A-2. "Designated smoking area" means an outdoor area where smoking is permitted, 
which must be at least 20 feet from entryways, vents and doorways. 
Sec. 7. 22 MRSA §1580-A, sub-§2, EjfC-3 is enacted to read: 
Page I - 124LRI637(OI)-1 
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C-3. "Residential facility" means a facility with one or more resideritial units or 
apartments that is licensed by the Department of Health and Human Services. 
Sec. 8. 22 MRSA §1580-A, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2005, c. 338, §4, IS 
repealed and the following enacted in its place: 
3. Policy; notice. Each employer shall establish, or may negotiate through the 
collective bargaining process, a written policy concerning smoking and nonsmoking by 
employees in that portion of any business facility for which the employer is responsible, 
subject to paragraph A. 
In order to protect the employer and employees from the 
detrimental effects of smoking by others, the policy must prohibit smoking indoors 
subject to paragraph A, prevent environmental tobacco smoke from circulating into 
enclosed areas and prohibit smoking outdoors exceptin designated smoking areas. The 
policy may prohibit smoking throughout the business facility, including outdoor "areas. 
The employer shall post and supervise the implementation of the policy. The employer 
shall provide a copy of this policy to any employee upon request. Nothing in this section 
may be construed to subject an employer to any additional liability, other than liability 
that may exist by law, for harm toan employee from smoking byothers in any business 
facility covered by this section. 
A. All areas of a business facility into which members of the public are invited or 
allowed are governed by the provisions of chapter262. 
B. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention shall accept inquiries from 
employers and employees and shall, when requested, assist employers in developing 
a policy. 
Sec. 9. 22 M"&SA §1~80-B, as amended by PL 2001, c.59, §§1 to 3, is repealed. 
Sec. 10. 22 MRSA §1825, as enacted by PL 1983, c. 293, is repealed. 
SUMMARY 
This bill does the following: 
1. 
It prohibits designated smoking areas indoors in places of employment and 
provides a definition of penl1itted outdoor designated smoking areas; 
2. It repeals the laws on smoking in hospitals, nursing homes and jury rooms that 
differed from the public place and workplace laws; 
3. It clarifies in the laws governing workplace smoking that "business facility" may 
include a private residence or unit or apartment within a residential facility during the" 
period of time that the private residence or unit or apartment is a place of employment; 
and 
4. It clarifies that "residential facility" means a facility licensed by the Department of 
Health and Human Services. 
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