Hawaii County, HI Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Section 14-21(a)(2) specifically bans smoking, including e-cigarettes, in a restaurant or bowling alley's outdoor, open-air, or partially enclosed seating area whenever it's used for serving food and beverages, not just the indoor dining room. Section 14-21(a)(14) goes further, prohibiting smoking within a "presumptively reasonable" twenty-foot buffer of any entrance, exit, or fresh-air intake of an enclosed area, so lighting up on the sidewalk right outside most business doors is a violation even outdoors. 1, unconnected to the buffer or indoor rules. The ban also reaches vehicles owned or leased by the County, taxicabs, and any motor vehicle carrying a passenger under eighteen.

Section 14-22 carves out private residences (except when used for licensed child care, adult day care, or health care during business hours), individually designated smoking rooms in hotels and motels, and retail tobacco stores whose smoke doesn't infiltrate other areas. Section 14-23 requires clearly posted "Smoking is Prohibited by Law" signs, or the international no-smoking symbol, at every entrance of a covered place, and gives a business ten days to fix a missing-sign violation before the fine attaches.