New Braunfels, TX Code Violation Reporting: How to Report (2026)

Sec. 62-340 spells out how the city's smoking-in-public-places article, Sec. 62-337 through Sec. 62-339, gets enforced and reported. Subsection (a) names the environmental services division as the lead enforcer, working through designees that include the fire department, code enforcement, the building division, and the police department. Subsection (b) gives any citizen the right to initiate enforcement by registering a complaint with the environmental services division or its designee, without needing to be the person directly affected by the smoke. Subsection (c) directs the environmental services division and fire department to inspect for compliance on top of any inspections already required elsewhere in the code, so smoking compliance can be checked during routine health or fire inspections rather than only after a complaint.

Subsection (d) puts a first-line duty on the owner, manager, operator, or employee of a regulated establishment: when they see a violation, they must inform the violator of the article's requirements and request immediate compliance before the city has to step in. Subsection (f) protects the reporting process itself, barring an employer from discharging, refusing to hire, or otherwise retaliating against an employee, applicant, or customer because that person exercised their rights under the article or reported or tried to prosecute a violation.