Public smoking ban starts Oct. 1

Smoking will be banned on all school property and in almost all other enclosed public places when the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act goes into effect Oct. 1.

The act was approved by the 2005 Legislature and signed into law in April by Gov. Brian Schweitzer, making Montana the 10th state in the nation to prohibit smoking in public places statewide.

Under the new law, Montanans cannot smoke or use spit tobacco in public schools or on public school property, including playgrounds, parking lots, administration buildings, athletic facilities, school buses and dormitories. The law applies to community colleges and the state university system as well as to elementary and secondary schools.

Smoking is also banned in any indoor area, room, or vehicle that the general public is allowed to enter or that serves as a place of work, including restaurants; stores; public and private office buildings; trains, buses and other forms of public transportation; health-care facilities; auditoriums, arenas, meeting rooms, and other assembly facilities; family or group day-care homes; and adult foster care homes.

Managers or proprietors of enclosed public places are required to post conspicuous signs at all entrances indicating that smoking is prohibited.

Bars can apply for an exception that would allow their employees and patrons to continue smoking until Sept. 30, 2009, as long as smoke from the bar does not infiltrate areas where smoking is prohibited. This may include taverns, nightclubs, cocktail lounges and casinos.

Individuals under 18 years old cannot patronize or work in any area of an establishment where smoking is permitted.

Hotels may continue to offer up to 35 percent of their rooms as smoking rooms as long as the smoke doesn't infiltrate common areas.

Anyone who uses tobacco where it is prohibited may be found guilty of a misdemeanor and punished by a fine of $25 to $100.

Anyone who owns, manages, operates or otherwise controls a public place to which the law applies and who fails to comply with it may also be found guilty of a misdemeanor. The law stipulates that the person will get a warning for the first violation, a written reprimand for the second, and a fine of $100 for the third violation in a three-year-period. Additional violations are punishable by larger fines.