Palm Desert, CA Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Section 8.36.030(A) of the Palm Desert Municipal Code prohibits smoking in unenclosed areas of four categories of place: public places, places of employment, businesses including restaurants and bars, and common areas of multifamily residential properties owned by the city. For a business, smoking is also prohibited within a reasonable distance of the primary entrance to a dining area.

The definitions in Section 8.36.020 give the ban its reach. Public places include areas forty feet from the entrances and exits of city-owned public places, areas twenty feet from the primary entrances of commercial, industrial, institutional or office professional buildings, unenclosed city-owned areas such as parks, playgrounds, restrooms and baseball and soccer fields, unenclosed public events, and hotels except in designated areas. The golf course area of Desert Willow is carved out, as are spots where signs are posted permitting smoking. A reasonable distance is twenty feet. Smoking includes holding or operating a vape or any electronic smoking device, not just burning tobacco.

Section 8.36.040 keeps private residential property open to smoking, and allows designated shopping mall areas capped at one square foot for every twenty thousand square feet of rentable space, with at least one area of forty or fewer square feet. Section 8.36.070 exempts fairways and putting greens of private country clubs and a twenty-foot zone at a primary entrance for someone actively passing through.

Section 8.36.090 puts duties on owners, operators and managers, who must post signs and not serve anyone smoking in a posted area. Code compliance officers, police and fire personnel can write citations, and any peace officer can enforce.