Maricopa County, AZ Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)
Key Facts
- Nonsmoking floor
- 40% of indoor AND outdoor seating
- Appeal reduces floor to
- 25% (Board of Supervisors)
- Max fine
- $500 per violation
- Fully exempt
- bars, pool halls, bowling alleys
- Applies only in
- unincorporated Maricopa County
- Adopted
- May 10, 1988 (Ordinance P-3)
Summary
In unincorporated Maricopa County, restaurants, cafeterias and lunchrooms must keep at least 40% of both indoor and outdoor seating smoke-free under the county's Smoking Pollution Control Ordinance. Bars, pool halls and bowling alleys are fully exempt from that rule. Violators face a fine of up to $500, and an operator squeezed by the 40% floor can appeal to the Board of Supervisors for relief down to 25%.
The operator of any eating establishment, restaurant, cafeteria or lunchroom must provide for and maintain a separate nonsmoking area of not less than 40% of the total indoor seating capacity and not less than 40% of the total outdoor seating capacity. The operator of each eating establishment shall expand the nonsmoking section to meet the needs of the nonsmoking public if requested. Hosts, hostesses, maitre d's, waiters, waitresses, owners or designated employees, if one is on duty, must ask guests upon making reservations or upon their arrival whether or not the guests prefer nonsmoking areas. The owner or operator of any restaurant, cafeteria, lunchroom or other eating establishment who believes that reservations of 40% of its seating capacity and floor space represents a nonsmoking proportion so large that it creates an economic hardship may appeal to the County Board of Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors shall have discretion to reduce the 40% requirement, but not to a level below 25%.
Full Breakdown
Ordinance P-3, adopted May 10, 1988, applies exclusively to unincorporated areas of Maricopa County; incorporated Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe and the rest write their own smoking codes. Section 5 bans smoking outright in restrooms, public buses, taxis, grocery and drug store public areas, financial-institution lobbies, theaters, classrooms and checkout-line areas, and elsewhere confines smoking to designated areas that may not exceed the size of the nonsmoking area. Section 6 sets the patio-specific rule: operators of eating establishments must maintain a nonsmoking section covering not less than 40% of the total indoor seating capacity and not less than 40% of the total outdoor seating capacity, must expand it if requested, and staff must ask guests at reservation or arrival whether they prefer nonsmoking seating.
An operator who considers the 40% floor an economic hardship may appeal to the Board of Supervisors, which has discretion to reduce it, but never below 25%. Section 8 fully exempts private residences, bars, pool halls, bowling alleys, hotel and motel guest rooms, tobacco-specialty retailers, stage productions and private-function meeting rooms from every restriction in the ordinance, so a bar's outdoor patio in the unincorporated county carries no county smoking limit at all. Section 9 requires 'Smoking' or 'No Smoking' signage with letters at least one inch tall, or the international no-smoking symbol, wherever the ordinance restricts smoking.
Violations & Fines
Section 10 makes noncompliance a violation punishable by a fine of up to $500. Any county peace officer may issue a citation for violations of Sections 5, 6 or 7. Before a citation issues, an owner, manager, operator, employer or employee who observes or is told of a Section 5 violation must first inform the violator of the rule and request immediate compliance; owners also carry the duty to post required signage and set aside compliant nonsmoking areas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to keep my whole patio smoke-free?
Does this rule reach restaurants in Phoenix or Mesa?
Can a restaurant get out of the 40% requirement?
Are bar patios covered by this ordinance?
What happens if a restaurant doesn't comply?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Maricopa County
Compare Maricopa County to another location·View the Arizona public conduct overview
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