Rapid City, SD Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)
Key Facts
- Trigger
- Owner-posted smoke-free signage
- Coverage
- Any building or premises, indoors or out
- Fine
- Up to $100 per violation
- Enacted
- Ord. 3035 (1993)
- Citation
- Rapid City Municipal Code § 8.32.050
Summary
Rapid City Municipal Code § 8.32.050 makes it a $100 offense to smoke in any building or on any premises, indoors or outdoors, once the owner or person in charge has posted a sign declaring it smoke free. There is no citywide outdoor smoking ban; the rule turns on the owner's own signage.
No person shall smoke or carry lighted tobacco in any form in any building or upon any premises or portion thereof where the owner or persons in charge thereof have posted signs declaring the building or premises or portion thereof to be smoke free or otherwise stating that smoking is prohibited. A violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $100.
Full Breakdown
Enacted by Ord. ' Because the section reaches 'any premises or portion thereof,' it covers outdoor areas an owner controls, such as a restaurant patio, an office courtyard, or the outdoor seating of a bar, once that owner posts the required sign, not just interior rooms. The section predates South Dakota's later Indoor Clean Air Act (SDCL Chapter 34-46) and works independently of it: it gives a private property owner or manager in Rapid City a direct, locally enforceable way to keep smokers off any part of their property, indoors or out, by posting notice rather than relying only on state law.
The section carries its own fixed penalty rather than routing through the citywide general penalty chapter, and it applies equally to any tobacco product 'in any form,' not just cigarettes.
Violations & Fines
A violation of § 8.32.050 is punishable by a fine of not more than $100. The section sets this cap itself rather than cross-referencing the general penalty in § 1.12.010, so it is a lower, flat maximum regardless of how many times the same person is cited.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Rapid City business ban smoking on its patio?
Is there a citywide outdoor smoking ban in Rapid City parks?
What's the fine for smoking where a smoke-free sign is posted?
Does this rule apply to vaping or just cigarettes?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Rapid City
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