Framingham, MA Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)
Key Facts
- Doorway buffer
- 15 feet from public entranceway
- Library ban
- Buildings, grounds, parking lots and garage
- Individual fine
- $100 civil penalty per violation
- Repeat business fines
- $100, then $200, then $300
- Enforcing agency
- Framingham Board of Health
- Statutory basis
- MGL c. 270, § 22(j)
Summary
Framingham bans smoking within 15 feet of any public entranceway and in smoking bars under § 507-4C, and separately bars using or selling tobacco, marijuana or other combustible products anywhere on library property, including its buildings, grounds and parking areas, under § 507-4D.
Pursuant to MGL c. ... 270, § 22(j), smoking is also hereby prohibited in smoking bars and within 15 feet of an entranceway accessible to the public, except that this shall not apply to a smoker transiting through such fifteen-foot area nor to a smoker approaching an entranceway with the intention of extinguishing a tobacco product. ... It is prohibited for any person to sell or use tobacco, tobacco products, marijuana or any combustible substance or product designed to be burned and inhaled on any library property, including buildings, grounds, parking lots and garage.
Full Breakdown
Framingham's Board of Health regulation implements the state Smoke-Free Workplace Law, MGL c. 270, § 22, and adds its own outdoor restrictions. Section 507-4C prohibits smoking in smoking bars and within 15 feet of any entranceway accessible to the public, a buffer the Board adopted under the authority of MGL c. 270, § 22(j), which lets a municipality further limit smoking beyond the state floor. The 15-foot rule carries two narrow carve-outs: it does not apply to a smoker merely transiting through the buffer zone, and it does not apply to a smoker who is approaching the entranceway specifically to put out a tobacco product before going inside.
Section 507-4D reaches further outdoors: no person may sell or use tobacco, tobacco products, marijuana or any other combustible substance meant to be burned and inhaled anywhere on library property, a ban that covers the library buildings, its grounds, and its parking lot and garage. Section 507-4E adds a parallel e-cigarette ban on municipal buildings, municipal vehicles and the grounds of the Framingham Public Library. The Board of Health and its designees enforce all of this under § 507-5D, and § 507-5H lets any person file a complaint with the Board of Health or local inspection department to trigger an investigation.
Violations & Fines
An individual caught smoking in a banned outdoor spot faces a $100 civil penalty per violation under § 507-5B, resolved through the noncriminal disposition procedure in MGL c. 40, § 21D. A building owner, manager or other person in control who otherwise violates the article (not by smoking themselves) faces escalating fines: $100 for a first violation, $200 for a second within three years, and $300 for a third or later violation within three years of the second.
Frequently Asked Questions
How close to a doorway can someone smoke in Framingham?
Is vaping or smoking allowed on library grounds?
Who enforces Framingham's outdoor smoking ban and how do I report a violation?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Framingham
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