South Dakota Smoking Ban Information

From August 2011 SDRA:
www.sdra.org

Q: I need some clarification on South Dakota smoking ban. Can my employees smoke in a break room, or in a warehouse, or other areas away from the public?

A: With three exceptions with are shown below, in South Dakota smoking is not allowed anywhere inside any business or inside any place of employment by anyone. The ban applies to business owners and managers, employees, customers, and other people, and it applies anywhere on an employer’s property that is enclosed. The law does not prohibit smoking outdoors on business property.

More specifically:

South Dakota’s smoking ban law says that no person may smoke tobacco or carry any lighted tobacco product in any public place or place of employment.

Under the law, a “public place” is defined as any enclosed area to which the public is invited or permitted. “Place of employment” is defined as an enclosed area under the control of the public or private employer. “Enclosed area” is defined as any space between a floor and a ceiling that is enclosed, exclusive of doorways, on all sides by permanent or temporary walls or windows.

Only e following businesses may allow smoking inside their establishments as of November 10, 2010:

1. sleeping rooms in lodging establishments. The rooms must be posted as a smoking room.
2. “cigar bars”: establishments with on-sale alcohol licenses; which generate 10% or more of their annual gross income from the sale of cigars; which have a humidor on the premises; which are enclosed by solid walls or windows, a ceiling and a solid door and are equipped with a ventilation system by which exhausted air is not recirculated to nonsmoking areas and smoke is not back-streamed into nonsmoking areas; which do not allow smoking of any tobacco products other than cigars and premium tobacco products purchased on the premises; and which were in compliance as of January 1, 2009.
3. retail tobacco stores which meet specific criteria: to be eligible for this exemption, the tobacco store must generate 65% or more of their annual gross income from the sale of tobacco, tobacco products and accessories for those products; must not allow alcohol consumption on the premises; and must be enclosed by solid walls or windows, a ceiling, and a solid door that provides egress to the outdoors. Any retail tobacco store which meets those requirements must report annually to the Department of Revenue and Regulation the revenue generated from the sale of tobacco accessories as a percentage of annual gross income.