Bozeman, MT Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Article 7 of Chapter 16 of the Bozeman Municipal Code is titled Smoking in Enclosed Public Places and Places of Employment. Section 16.07.030 prohibits smoking in all enclosed public places and places of employment, except as otherwise provided. Section 16.07.040 then lists what is exempt, and item 4 is outdoor areas. The other exemptions are private functions not open to the public, private residences (except when used as a licensed child care, adult care or health care facility), designated hotel or motel smoking rooms, retail tobacco stores, and bars and casinos, provided smoke from them does not infiltrate areas where smoking is prohibited. The City Commission stated its purpose in § 16.07.010 as prohibiting smoking in enclosed public places and places of employment, not outdoor spaces.

The definition matters. Under § 16.07.020, smoking means inhaling, exhaling, burning or carrying any lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe, weed, plant or other combustible substance in any manner or any form. An enclosed public place is an enclosed area to which the public is invited, and the list includes bars, health care facilities, laundromats, retail stores, shopping malls, sports arenas, theaters, restrooms and waiting rooms. A patio open to the air is outside that definition, while a restrooms or waiting room is inside it. Section 16.07.080 says the article cannot be read to permit smoking where other applicable laws restrict it, and § 16.07.110 provides that the article supersedes the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act only to the extent it is more stringent. Any owner or operator can declare an entire establishment or part of it non-smoking under § 16.07.050. Posting, sign and ashtray-removal duties in § 16.07.060 apply only where smoking is prohibited by the article.