San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to ban smoking in apartment buildings with three or more units, CNN reported.
The proposed ordinance is an effort to protect residents from secondhand smoke, and extends the existing ban on smoking in common spaces like stairwells to inside apartments and condos. Medical and recreational marijuana use, respectively, would not be banned under the ordinance. Offenders will face a hefty $1,000 fine for each violation, according to the report.
If approved, San Francisco would become the largest U.S. city to ban smoking in apartments, according to the SF Chronicle. (RELATED: City Supervisors Finalize E-Cigarette Ban In San Francisco, Where Drug Addicts Outnumber High School Students)
Tenants could not be evicted for violating the ban, reports ABC News. Sixty-three California cities already have bans in place.
The board’s original proposal included a ban on marijuana. But supervisors excluded weed from their amendment because doing so would have removed the only legal place to smoke.
“Unlike tobacco smokers who could still leave their apartments to step out to the curb or smoke in other permitted outdoor smoking areas, cannabis users would have no such legal alternatives,” said Rafael Mandelman, one of the supervisors, according to the USA Today.
The board will reconvene next week, after which their proposal will go to Mayor London Breed’s desk for signature. The proposed ordinance will go into effect 30 days after signing.