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

Section 12.20.085 defines smoking broadly under subsection A to include inhaling, exhaling, burning or carrying any lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe, hookah pipe, plant or other combustible substance, plus e-cigarettes, e-cigars and similar vaporizing devices. Subsection B makes smoking unlawful in every recreation area, defined in § 12.20.015 to include parks, greenbelts, gardens and any other city-owned or city-maintained property, and on city-owned property generally. The only carve-out is a designated smoking area, and the city or the private entity controlling the property may authorize one only if all five criteria in subsection B are met: the area must be clearly marked with smoking-permitted signs; it must sit at least 50 feet from picnic areas, sports fields or recreational improvements, food vendors, lines for recreational activities, and HVAC intakes or vents; it must be completely unenclosed; any agreement or special event permit between the city and a private entity must allow the designation; and the city manager, Parks and Recreation director, or a designee must actually designate the location, weighing fire hazards, proximity to fields and to elderly people, children and employees.

No city official is required to designate a smoking area at all. Because there is no citywide default smoking area, a smoker at a Rocklin park or on any city-owned lot is violating the ordinance unless standing in one of these rare, specifically posted and signed exceptions. Enforcement runs through the Rocklin Police Department, and violations of Chapter 12.20 carry the administrative citation schedule in § 1.14.023, $100 to $500 per citation depending on how many citations occur within 12 months, or a misdemeanor or infraction charge under § 12.20.046(C).