Bill aims to ban tobacco smoking in all of California’s multi-unit accommodation

People living in townhouses, condominiums and other attached units would be prohibited from tobacco smoking indoors under a ban proposed by a California state lawmaker, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The ban is said to comprise the most sweeping anti-tobacco-smoking legislative proposal in the US.

The law would ban tobacco smoking inside any multi-unit residence – apartment, condominium, duplex or townhouse.

But outdoor smoking would be permitted in designated areas at least 20 feet away from housing units.

And single-family detached homes would not be included because they don’t share walls or ventilation systems.

Marijuana smoking is not addressed by the proposed bill.

The rationale for the bill is that when neighbors light up, the smoke filters through ventilation systems, pipes, walls and ceilings, electrical sockets and even cracks in plaster.

“Home is where you should have the right to breathe clean air,” said Assemblyman, Marc Levine, who introduced the bill, AB746, and who noted that a third of Californians lived in multi-unit complexes.