2025 -- S 0188 SUBSTITUTE A AS AMENDED

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- PUBLIC HEALTH AND WORKPLACE SAFETY

ACT

     Introduced By: Senators Sosnowski, Murray, Felag, Valverde, Kallman, DiMario, Gu,

     Date Introduced: February 07, 2025

     Referred To: Senate Finance

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 23-20.10-2 and 23-20.10-6.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-

20.10 entitled "Public Health and Workplace Safety Act" are hereby amended to read as follows:

     23-20.10-2. Definitions.

     The following words and phrases, whenever used in this chapter, shall be construed as

defined in this section:

     (1) “Assisted-living residence” means a residence that provides personal assistance and

meals to adults in accordance with chapter 17.4 of this title.

     (2) “Bar” means an establishment that is devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for

consumption by guests on the premises and in which the serving of food is only incidental to the

consumption of those beverages, including, but not limited to, taverns, nightclubs, cocktail lounges,

and cabarets.

     (3) “Business” means a sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation, or other

business entity formed for profit-making purposes, including retail establishments where goods or

services are sold as well as professional corporations and other entities where legal, medical, dental,

engineering, architectural, or other professional services are delivered.

     (4) “Electronic nicotine delivery system” means an electronic device that may be used to

simulate smoking in the delivery of nicotine or other substance to a person inhaling from the device,

and includes, but is not limited to, an electronic cigarette, electronic cigar, electronic cigarillo,

electronic pipe, or electronic hookah and any related device and any cartridge or other component

of that device.

     (5) “Electronic nicotine delivery system store” means a retail store, excluding mall kiosks,

utilized primarily for the sale of electronic nicotine delivery system products and accessories.

     (6) “Electronic smoking device establishment” means any business that sells food or

alcohol and for which the principal or core business is selling electronic nicotine delivery system

devices and where combustible substances are prohibited.

     (i) Effective July 1, 2018, all establishments that open thereafter must demonstrate

quarterly, for a period of one year and annually thereafter, that the annual revenue generated from

the serving of electronic nicotine delivery system devices is thirty-three percent (33%) or more of

the total revenue for the establishment. Every such owner of an electronic smoking device

establishment shall register no later than January 1 of each year with the division of taxation and

shall provide, at a minimum, the owner’s name and address and the name and address of the

electronic smoking device establishment. The division of taxation in the department of

administration shall be responsible for the determination under this section and shall promulgate

any rules or forms necessary for the implementation of this section.

     (7) “Employee” means a person who is employed by an employer in consideration for

direct or indirect monetary wages or profit and a person who volunteers his or her services for a

nonprofit entity.

     (8) “Employer” means a person, business, partnership, association, corporation, including

a municipal corporation, trust, or nonprofit entity that employs the services of one or more

individual persons.

     (9) “Enclosed area” means all space between a floor and ceiling that is enclosed on all sides

by solid walls or windows (exclusive of doorways) that extend from the floor to the ceiling.

     (10) “Healthcare facility” means an office or institution providing care or treatment of

diseases, whether physical, mental, emotional, or other medical, physiological, or psychological

conditions, including, but not limited to, hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals or other clinics,

including weight control clinics, nursing homes, homes for the aging or chronically ill, laboratories,

and offices of surgeons, chiropractors, physical therapists, physicians, dentists, and all specialists

within these professions. This definition shall include all waiting rooms, hallways, private rooms,

semi-private rooms, and wards within health-care facilities.

     (11) “Legislature” means the general assembly of the state of Rhode Island.

     (12) “Place of employment” means an area under the control of a public or private

employer that employees normally frequent during the course of employment, including, but not

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limited to, work areas, employees lounges, restrooms, conference rooms, meeting rooms,

classrooms, employee cafeterias, and hallways. Vehicles owned by a public or private employer

are covered under this definition provided that the vehicle is used by more than one person. A

private residence is not a “place of employment” unless it is used as a childcare, adult daycare, or

healthcare facility.

     (13) “Principal or core business” means a business whose majority of customers are

utilizing electronic nicotine delivery systems during normal business hours.

     (14) “Public place” means an enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which the

public is permitted, including, but not limited to, banks, bars, educational facilities, healthcare

facilities, laundromats, public transportation facilities, reception areas, restaurants, retail food

production and marketing establishments, retail service establishments, retail stores, shopping

malls, sports arenas, the state house, theaters, and waiting rooms. A private residence is not a

“public place” unless it is used as a childcare, adult daycare, or healthcare facility.

     (15) “Restaurant” means an eating establishment, including, but not limited to, coffee

shops, cafeterias, and private and public school cafeterias, that gives or offers for sale food to the

public, guests, or employees, as well as kitchens and catering facilities in which food is prepared

on the premises for serving elsewhere. The term “restaurant” shall include a bar area within the

restaurant.

     (16) “Retail tobacco store” means a retail store utilized primarily for the sale of tobacco,

electronic cigarette products and accessories, or electronic nicotine delivery system products in

which the total annual revenues generated by the sale of other products are no greater than twenty-

five percent (25%) of the total revenue for the establishment. The division of taxation shall be

responsible for the determination under this section and shall promulgate any rules or forms

necessary for the implementation of this section.

     (17) “Service line” means an indoor line in which one or more persons are waiting for or

receiving service of any kind, whether or not the service involves the exchange of money.

     (18) “Shopping mall” means an enclosed public walkway or hall area that serves to connect

retail or professional establishments.

     (19) “Smoking” or “smoke” means inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted or

heated cigar, cigarette, pipe, weed, plant, other tobacco product or plant product, or other

combustible substance in any manner or in any form intended for inhalation in any manner or form.

“Smoking” or “smoke” also includes the use of electronic cigarettes, electronic cigars, electronic

pipes, electronic nicotine delivery system products, or other similar products that rely on

vaporization or aerosolization; provided, however, that smoking shall not include burning during a

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religious ceremony.

     (20)(i) “Smoking bar” means an establishment whose business is primarily devoted to the

serving of tobacco products for consumption on the premises, in which the annual revenues

generated by tobacco sales are greater than fifty percent (50%) of the total revenue for the

establishment and the serving of food or alcohol is only incidental to the consumption of the tobacco

products. Effective July 1, 2015, all existing establishments and establishments that open thereafter

must demonstrate quarterly, for a period of one year and annually thereafter, that the annual revenue

generated from the serving of tobacco products is greater than fifty percent (50%) of the total

revenue for the establishment, and the serving of food, alcohol, or beverages is only incidental to

the consumption of the tobacco products. Every owner of a smoking bar shall register no later than

January 1 of each year with the division of taxation and shall provide, at a minimum, the owner’s

name and address and the name and address of the smoking bar. The division of taxation in the

department of administration shall be responsible for the determination under this section and shall

promulgate any rules or forms necessary for the implementation of this section.

     (ii) Smoking bars shall only allow consumption of food and beverages sold by the

establishment on the premises and the establishment shall have public access only from the street.

     (iii) Any smoking bar, as defined herein, is required to provide a proper ventilation system

that will prevent the migration of smoke into the street.

     (21) “Sports arena” means sports pavilions, stadiums, (indoor or outdoor) organized sports

fields, gymnasiums, health spas, boxing arenas, swimming pools, roller and ice rinks, bowling

alleys, and other similar places where members of the general public assemble to engage in physical

exercise, participate in athletic competition, or witness sports or other events.

     (22) "Pari mutual facility smoking lounge" means an enclosed area, including, but not

limited to, a cigar bar, within any pari mutual facility established under chapter 3.1 or 7 of title 41

or any pari mutual licensee under chapter 61.2 of title 42 with a proper ventilation system that will

prevent the migration of smoke to nonsmoking areas.

     23-20.10-6.1. Pari mutual facilities.

     (a) Any pari mutual facility established under chapter 3.1 or 7 of title 41 or any pari mutual

licensee under chapter 61.2 of title 42 shall provide designated prohibit smoking and nonsmoking

gaming areas in their facilities, except as provided in subsection (b) of this section.

     (b) The designated nonsmoking gaming area shall be physically separated from any

smoking area and shall be required to have separate and distinct ventilation systems so as to prohibit

the migration of smoke into the nonsmoking area.

     (c) Except as provided for in paragraph (d), any bar or restaurant located in a pari mutual

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facility shall be nonsmoking and be physically separate from any smoking area and shall have a

separate ventilation system so as to prohibit the migration of smoke into the restaurant.

     (d) The prohibitions of this chapter shall not apply to any bar which is presently in

existence, located in, and not physically separated from a designated smoking area.

     (e) Any licensee of a pari mutual facility shall promulgate rules and regulations to allow

their employees the right to work in a smoke free environment. These rules shall include, but not

be limited to, provisions on the right to opt out of working in a smoking area and a provision that

no adverse impact or action could take place against the employee if they request to opt out of a

smoking area. The rules promulgated by the licensee shall be filed with the lottery commission

with copies to the general assembly and the department of health no later than March 1, 2005.

     (f) Commencing January 1, 2005, any pari mutual licensee shall file an annual report with

the lottery commission with copies to the general assembly and department of health detailing

smoke mitigation efforts undertaken by the licensee during the previous year and plans for the

upcoming year. The licensee shall be required to monitor air quality with current appropriate

technology. A professional HVAC engineer (or other appropriate professional) shall certify the

monitoring process and results. The results of the monitoring process shall be included in the annual

report.

     (g) Any enactment relating to the provisions of this section on pari mutual facilities or

licensees shall be by statute as enacted by the general assembly, provided however that the general

assembly may by statute delegate such authority to the cities and towns.

     (b) Any pari mutual facility established under chapter 3.1 of title 41, may provide an

exemption to the prohibition on smoking for one "pari mutual facility smoking lounge", as defined

pursuant to § 23-20.10-2 located within the facility.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2027.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- PUBLIC HEALTH AND WORKPLACE SAFETY

ACT

***

     This act would repeal the provisions authorizing smoking in pari mutual facilities with the

exception for businesses operating as smoking bars to include Plum & Proof Cigar Bar.

     This act would take effect on January 1, 2027.

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