Virginia Code 15.2-2828: Ordinances regulating smoking generally.
A. No ordinances enacted by a locality prior to January 1, 1990, shall be deemed invalid or unenforceable because of lack of consistency with the provisions of this chapter.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 15.2-2828
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
- Private work place: means any office or work area that is not open to the public in the normal course of business except by individual invitation. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
- smoking: means the carrying or holding of any lighted pipe, cigar, or cigarette of any kind, or any other lighted smoking equipment, or the lighting, inhaling, or exhaling of smoke from a pipe, cigar, or cigarette of any kind. See Virginia Code 15.2-2820
B. Except as provided in § 15.2-2829, no ordinances adopted after January 1, 1990, shall contain provisions or standards that exceed those established in this chapter.
C. However, any ordinance may provide that employers may regulate smoking in the private work place as they deem appropriate under the following circumstances: (i) if the designation of smoking and no-smoking areas is the subject of a written agreement between the employer and his employees, the provisions of the written agreement shall control such designation and (ii) a total ban on smoking in any work place shall only be enforced by the employer upon an affirmative vote of a majority of the affected employees voting, unless such ban is the subject of a contract of employment between the employer and the employees as a prior condition of employment. No ordinance adopted pursuant to this subsection shall affect no-smoking policies established by employers prior to the adoption of such ordinance.