5

 

 

Fourth Session, 46th General Assembly

60 Elizabeth II, 2011

BILL 5

AN ACT TO AMEND THE SMOKE-FREE
ENVIRONMENT ACT, 2005

Received and Read the First Time...................................................................................................

Second Reading.................................................................................................................................

Committee............................................................................................................................................

Third Reading.....................................................................................................................................

Royal Assent......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE JEROME P. KENNEDY, Q.C.

Minister of Health and Community Services

Ordered to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

 

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would amend the Smoke-free Environment Act, 2005 to prohibit smoking in a motor vehicle while a person under 16 years of age is present in that motor vehicle.

The Bill would also prohibit designated smoking rooms in all workplaces except a workplace that is a remote worksite, an underground mining operation or a marine installation or structure.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE SMOKE-FREE ENVIRONMENT ACT, 2005

Analysis


        1.   S.2 Amdt.
Definitions

        2.   S.5 Amdt.
Designated smoking room

        3.   S.6.1 Added
Protection for people under 16 years of age in motor vehicles

        4.   S.8.1 Added
Enforcement by police officers

        5.   S.11 Amdt.
Regulations

        6.   Commencement


Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

SNL2005 cS-16.2

        1. Section 2 of the Smoke-free Environment Act, 2005 is amended by adding immediately after paragraph (h) the following:

          (h.1)  "motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle as defined in the Highway Traffic Act;

        2. (1) Subsection 5(1) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Designated smoking room

        5. (1) Notwithstanding paragraph 4(1)(a), in a workplace that is

             (a)  a remote worksite as designated by the regulations;

             (b)  an underground mining operation; or

             (c)  a marine installation or structure as defined in section 152 of the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act (Canada)

an employer may, in accordance with the regulations, designate one or more enclosed rooms that are under that employer's control as designated smoking rooms for employees.

             (2)  Subsection 5(3) of the Act is amended by adding the words "referred to in subsection (1)" immediately after the word "workplace".

 

        3. The Act is amended by adding immediately after section 6 the following:

Protection for people under 16 years of age in motor vehicles

      6.1 A person shall not drive or have the care or control of a motor vehicle, whether it is in motion or not,

             (a)  while there is a person smoking in the motor vehicle; and

             (b)  that motor vehicle is occupied by a person under 16 years of age,

whether or not a window, sunroof, car-top, door or other feature of the motor vehicle is open.

        4. The Act is amended by adding immediately after section 8 the following:

Enforcement by police officers

      8.1 (1) Notwithstanding section 7, section 6.1 shall be enforced by police officers.

             (2)  For the purpose of ensuring compliance with section 6.1, a police officer may require the driver of a motor vehicle to stop.

             (3)  The driver of a motor vehicle, when signalled or requested to stop by a police officer, shall immediately come to a safe stop.

             (4)  At a trial to determine whether a contravention of section 6.1 has occurred, a court may find evidence that the police officer enforcing the section honestly and reasonably believed a person present in the motor vehicle to be under 16 years of age to be sufficient proof of the person's age, unless the accused shows on a balance of probabilities that the person was, at the time of the offence, 16 years of age or more.

 

        5. Section 11 of the Act is amended by adding immediately after paragraph (b) the following:

          (b.1)  designating a worksite as a remote worksite for the purpose of subsection 5(1);

Commencement

        6. This Act comes into force on July 1, 2011.