TITLE XII
PUBLIC SAFETY AND WELFARE

CHAPTER 155
FACTORIES, TENEMENTS, SCHOOLHOUSES, AND PLACES OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION, RESORT OR ASSEMBLY

Indoor Smoking Act

Section 155:65

    155:65 Definitions. –
In this subdivision:
I. "Cocktail lounge" means only that portion or specified area of a restaurant, hotel, motel, convention center or resort which is used primarily to serve liquor or other alcoholic beverages, irrespective of whether or not food is also served there.
II. [Omitted.]
III. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the department of health and human services or designee.
IV. "Department" means the department of health and human services.
V. "Effectively segregated" means all the following conditions have been met:
(a) Procedures for accurately and fairly determining preference have been followed;
(b) The size and location of no-smoking and smoking-permitted areas are designed, designated, or juxtaposed so that smoke does not cause harm or unreasonably intrude into the area occupied by persons who are not smoking; and
(c) In buildings where existing ventilation systems are in place, areas designated as smoking areas are located, where reasonably possible, proximate to exhaust vents.
VI. "Enclosed place" means a structurally enclosed location, or portion of such location, enclosed by a floor, ceiling, and 3 or 4 solid walls, partitions, or windows, exclusive of doors or passageways.
VII. "Health care facility" means any enclosed place or portion of such place used for the purpose of providing medical or dental treatment, physical or mental health services, or any combination of such treatment or services. This definition shall include buildings or portions of buildings used exclusively for such purposes and buildings or portions of buildings leased, rented, or otherwise made available for such purposes.
VIII. "Law enforcement authority" means the state, county, city, or town police having authority over a given area in the state.
IX. "Person in charge" means:
(a) For enclosed places that are not publicly owned buildings or offices, the person who has responsibility for, directly or by appointment, policy making and overseeing adherence to laws, rules and regulations of an enclosed place of public access or a workplace. This definition shall not mean the owner of the property or place of public access or workplace unless he is routinely present and controls the day-to-day activities, or sets the policy, carried out within the enclosed place.
(b) For publicly owned buildings and offices, the person responsible for the operation of the building or office and the person responsible for the agency or organization occupying the building or office, or that person designated to act in the absence of the person in charge.
X. "Public access" means any enclosed place of business, commerce, banking, financial service, or other service-related activity, whether publicly or privately owned and whether operated for profit or not, to which the general public has access or which the general public uses, including, but not limited to, buildings, offices, means of transportation, common carrier waiting rooms, arcades, restaurants, retail stores, grocery stores, libraries, theaters, concert halls, auditoriums, arenas, barber shops, hair salons, laundromats, shopping malls, museums, art galleries, sports and fitness facilities, planetariums, historical sites, and common areas of resorts, hotels and motels, including the lobbies, hallways, elevators, restaurants, restrooms and cafeterias.
XI. "Public educational facility" means any enclosed place or portion of such place, which is supported by public funds and which is used for the instruction of students enrolled in grades kindergarten through 12. This definition shall include areas within facilities supportive of instruction and subject to educational administration including, but not limited to, lounge areas, passageways, restrooms, laboratories, study areas, cafeterias, gymnasiums, libraries, maintenance rooms and storage areas.
XII. "Public conveyance" means any air, land, or water vehicle of public access, which has enclosed sections, used for the transportation of persons in the state of New Hampshire, whether or not for compensation, including, but not limited to, airplanes, trains, buses, boats, vans, or taxis. This definition shall not include privately owned vehicles when used for private purposes, but shall include all vehicles owned by the state and its political subdivisions.
XIII. "Publicly owned buildings and offices" means enclosed places or portions of such places owned, leased, or rented by state, county or municipal governments, or by agencies supported by appropriation of, or by contracts or grants from, funds derived from the collection of federal, state, county or municipal taxes. This definition includes, but is not limited to, legislative offices, legislative meeting rooms and other areas used by legislative bodies; courtrooms, jury rooms, and other court facilities; recreation facilities; police stations; fire stations; county, city and town offices; penal and detention institutions; armories; military training facilities; public housing; subsidized housing; common waiting areas, lobbies or common-use rooms; field offices of any government unit; and postsecondary educational institutions receiving funds appropriated by the state legislature. This definition also includes enclosed places periodically used by state, county or municipal governments or their agencies, including, but not limited to, polling places and rooms in which a public meeting, hearing or other proceeding open to the public is in progress. This definition shall also include, in accordance with federal laws and regulations, enclosed places and offices owned, leased, or rented by the federal government or agencies of the federal government.
XIV. "Restaurant" means any room or enclosed place used and kept open on a regular basis and in a bona fide manner for the serving of meals to guests for compensation. "Restaurant" shall include any such room or place in resorts, hotels, and motels.
XV. "Smoking" means having in one's possession a lighted cigarette, cigar, or pipe, or any device designed to produce the effect of smoking, including devices as defined in RSA 126-K:2, II-a.
XVI. "Smoking-permitted area" means an effectively segregated area which is posted with "Smoking Permitted" signs in a building, facility, room, or group of rooms or other enclosed indoor area and in which smoking is allowed, as designated by the person in charge of the facility in accordance with applicable rules adopted by the commissioner pursuant to RSA 155:71.
XVII. "Workplace" means an enclosed place at which 4 or more individuals perform any type of a service for consideration of payment under any type or term of employment relationship with, but not limited to, a sole proprietorship, corporation, partnership, company, individual, governing body, government agency, private voluntary agency, and any public nonprofit agency. This definition also includes any enclosed place where 4 or more individuals perform services in a volunteer capacity for which individuals are ordinarily paid.

Source. 1990, 236:2. 1995, 310:104, 183. 2000, 303:5. 2007, 203:1, 2, eff. Sept. 17, 2007. 2019, 259:8, eff. July 1, 2019.