Guam § 90102 - Legislative Findings and Purpose.

§ 90102. Legislative Findings and Purpose.

(a) The Legislature finds that numerous studies have proven that

tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution; that

breathing residual smoke is a cause of disease, including lung cancer, in

healthy nonsmokers; that special risk populations are elderly people,

individuals with cardiovascular disease, and individuals with impaired

respiratory function, including asthmatics and those with obstructive

airway disease; that a majority of both nonsmokers and smokers desire to

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have restrictions placed on smoking in public places and places of

employment; and that smoking is a potential cause of fires, cigarette and

cigar burns, and ash stains on merchandise, causing losses to businesses.

(b) The Legislature declares that the purposes of this chapter are

(1) to protect the public health and welfare by prohibiting

smoking in public places except in designated smoking areas, and

by regulating smoking in places of employment; and

(2) to strike a reasonable balance between the needs of persons

who smoke and the right of nonsmokers to breathe smoke-free air,

and to recognize that the right to breathe smoke-free air shall take

priority.

2016 NOTE: This provision was formerly codified as § 90101, and renumbered §

90102 by the Compiler pursuant to the authority of 1 GCA § 1606. The original

enactment of this Chapter by P.L. 21-139:1 did not include a provision designated §

90102, and the reason for its omission is unclear from the legislative history.