Dane County, WI Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)
Key Facts
- Buffer distance
- 15 feet from entrances/windows/vents
- Park rule
- smoke-free only where Park Commission posts it
- Special site
- Badger Prairie Health Care Center: entirely smoke-free
- Individual penalty
- up to $100 forfeiture
- Business penalty
- $100/$200/$500 escalating scale
- Enforcing agency
- Public Health Director & Sheriff's Office
Summary
Dane County Code § 34.07(5) bans smoking and tobacco use within 15 feet of any entrance, operable window, or ventilation intake of a building where indoor smoking is prohibited, at any posted county park or beach, and anywhere on the grounds of the Badger Prairie Health Care Center. Violators face up to a $100 forfeiture.
(5) Prohibition of smoking in outdoor areas. It shall be unlawful for any person to smoke or use tobacco products in the following outdoor areas: (a) Within a distance of 15 feet outside entrances, operable windows and ventilation systems of enclosed areas where smoking is prohibited, so as to insure that tobacco smoke does not enter those areas. 1. Every building where smoking is prohibited shall have at least one entrance which is smoke-free. (b) County parks and beaches as posted and so designated by the Park Commission. (c) Anywhere on the grounds of the Badger Prairie Health Care Center. This facility and all of its grounds are designated entirely "Smoke Free."
Full Breakdown
07(5) extends the county's indoor smoke-free rule outdoors in three specific ways. First, sub. (5)(a) makes it unlawful to smoke or use tobacco products within 15 feet outside the entrances, operable windows, and ventilation intakes of any enclosed area where smoking is already prohibited under sub. (4), county buildings, restaurants, health care facilities, childcare facilities, and similar public places, so secondhand smoke can't drift back inside; sub. further requires every such building to keep at least one entrance smoke-free. Second, sub. (5)(b) bans smoking at county parks and beaches wherever the Park Commission has posted and designated the area as smoke-free, the ban is site-specific rather than county-wide across every park.
Third, sub. (5)(c) designates the entire grounds of the Badger Prairie Health Care Center, inside and out, as smoke-free with no posting required. The Director of Public Health and the Sheriff's Office, or their designees, may enter regulated premises to check compliance under sub. (10), and each day a violation continues counts as a separate offense enforceable by citation or referral to Corporation Counsel for injunctive relief and daily forfeitures.
Violations & Fines
Smoking in a prohibited outdoor area under § 34.07(5) carries a forfeiture of up to $100 under sub. (12)(a). A property owner, manager, or operator who fails to enforce the smoke-free zone faces escalating forfeitures of up to $100 for a first violation, $200 for a second within a year, and $500 for each additional violation within that year under sub. (12)(b).
Frequently Asked Questions
How close to a building's entrance can I smoke in Dane County?
Can I smoke at a Dane County park?
Is Badger Prairie Health Care Center smoke-free outdoors too?
What's the fine for smoking too close to a building?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Dane County
Compare Dane County to another location·View the Wisconsin public conduct overview
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