Smoking ban takes effect at midnight June 1

Smokers beware.

Grand Island's new smoking ban goes into effect this weekend.

The ban impacts all indoor areas of all public places -- places where the public is invited in to do business or work. The Grand Island City Council approved the ban in March to take effect a full year ahead of a similar statewide ban.

"The ordinance goes into effect June 1," City Attorney Dale Shotkoski said.

June 1 begins at midnight Sunday. To many folks, midnight Sunday may still feel like part of Saturday night.

"Midnight to 1 (a.m.), if bars are open, it will be in effect," said Capt. Robert Falldorf of the Grand Island Police Department.

"We are not doing any special enforcement -- it's essentially by complaint. But we do routine bar checks, and if we see violations during the bar checks, the officer has the authority to take enforcement action then," Falldorf said.

By city code, anyone who is smoking -- or a business proprietor allowing smoking in the establishment -- can be ticketed.

The fines are $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second offense and $500 for third and subsequent offenses. Each violation also carries a charge of $44 in court costs.

In the case of allowing smoking to occur in a public place, the business owner, manager or highest-ranking employee on site at the time of the violation will be the one ticketed, Falldorf said.

"It might be the head bartender … if they are the highest-ranking person there, but we will not cite every employee there," he said.

Knowledge of an offense will play into whether a citation is given, too.

"Maybe someone is smoking in the rest room, and they don't know it's even taking place. Obviously, in a case like that we won't cite the proprietor, but the proprietor can be cited right along with the offending patron," he said.

The proprietor violation can occur once each day.

"They can't be cited twice in the same night," Falldorf said.

There may be some initial leniency in handing out tickets as the Police Department doesn't have a policy mandating a citation on every case. Police officers can use their own discretion.

"They do have the authority, right after it goes into effect, to issue verbal warnings or write written warnings," Falldorf said.

"It will be a learning curve to begin with here," he said. "Obviously, our enforcement efforts are not necessarily to punish but to gain compliance to reduce the health risks posed.”