Gilroy, CA Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Chapter 19B of the Gilroy City Code goes beyond the state's Labor Code Section 6404.5 workplace smoking law by naming eleven specific places within the city where smoking is banned outright. Under Section 19B.2, those places include park grounds and park parking lots, half of the outdoor seating area at every restaurant (reserved for nonsmokers), hospitals and health care facilities, public building lobbies and hallways, museums, libraries, galleries, public restrooms, elevators in buildings open to the public, and the footprint of any permitted public event as defined in Section 19B.1, which covers farmers' markets, parades, and craft fairs.

Section 19B.1 also defines "reasonable distance" as twenty-five feet in any direction from a doorway, window, crack, or vent of a place where smoking is barred, a buffer that extends the park and public-event bans onto adjoining sidewalks and parking areas. Business owners and event organizers must post "No Smoking" signs with letters at least one inch tall, or the international no-smoking symbol, under Section 19B.4; the absence of a sign is not a defense to a citation. Enforcement runs through the city administrator's office, and Section 19B.5 ties compliance to business licensing: every covered establishment must self-certify compliance with the smoking chapter when it renews its license, and failure to respond to that certification request within sixty days is grounds to deny the license and open an enforcement case.

Since April 1, 2023, Section 19B.6 has extended a parallel ban into multi-unit housing, prohibiting smoking inside units and in common areas unless the property owner designates and signs a compliant outdoor smoking area.