Bowling Green, KY Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Sec. 13-2.07 of the Bowling Green Code of Ordinances prohibits smoking within a reasonable distance from the outside entrance to any building, so that tobacco smoke cannot drift back in through entrances, windows, or ventilation systems, the city's one outdoor-specific smoking restriction. It sits inside Chapter 13-2, Regulating Smoking on Public Property, which otherwise bars smoking inside any building or enclosed area occupied by city departments and other covered work places under Sec. 13-2.04, defining an 'enclosed area' as one closed overhead by a roof and at least 40 percent enclosed by walls.

Sec. 13-2.09 leaves private property owners free to impose their own complete smoking ban in any outdoor area, motor vehicle, or dwelling, and anyone on that property must obey the owner's stricter rule. Enforcement runs through any police officer or a code official designated by the City Manager, plus the Bowling Green-Warren County Health Department if its board formally takes on that role, per Sec. 13-3.01, and a violation is processed as a civil citation before the Code Enforcement and Nuisance Board under Sec. 13-3.02.

Sec. 13-4.01 sets a rising fine schedule for smoking in a prohibited area: $25 for an uncontested first offense, $50 for a second, and $100 for a third, rising to $50, $100, and $200 if the citation is contested and goes to a Board hearing. Anyone who keeps smoking after being asked to stop can be told to leave and, under Sec. 13-4.02, prosecuted for criminal trespass if they refuse. Sec. 13-4.03 also lets the city treat a violation as a public nuisance and pursue an injunction or recover its enforcement costs.