NMSA 1978, § 24-16-1 Short title
24-16-1. Short title
Chapter 24, Article 16 NMSA 1978 may be cited as the "Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act".
Laws 1985, ch. 85, § 1; 2007, ch. 20, § 1.
Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air
NMSA 1978 ch. 24, art. 16
in effectNMSA 1978, § 24-16-2 Declaration of policy and intent; public health
24-16-2. Declaration of policy and intent; public health
The legislature finds and declares that the smoking of tobacco, or any other weed or plant, is a positive danger to health and a health hazard to those who are present in enclosed places and that smoking in such areas should be confined to designated smoking areas. The legislature further declares its intention to protect the public health from such hazards in public places and places of employment without imposing exorbitant costs on persons in management and control of the places subject to the [Dee Johnson] Clean Indoor Air Act. It is not the intent of the legislature to preempt the field of regulation of smoking in public from the enactment of ordinances by local governing bodies which are not inconsistent with the [Dee Johnson] Clean Indoor Air Act.
Laws 1985, ch. 85, § 2.
NMSA 1978, § 24-16-3 Definitions
24-16-3. Definitions
As used in the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act:
A. "bar" means an establishment that is devoted to the selling or serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by patrons on the premises and in which the serving of food is only incidental to the consumption of those beverages, including taverns, nightclubs, cocktail lounges and cabarets;
B. "cigar bar" means an establishment that:
(1) is a bar as defined in Subsection A of this section; and
(2) is engaged in the business of selling cigars for consumption by patrons on the premises and generates ten percent or more of its total annual gross revenue or at least ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in annual sales from the sale of cigars, not including any sales from vending machines. A cigar bar that fails to generate at least ten percent of its total annual sales from the sale of cigars in the calendar year after December 31, 2006, not including sales from vending machines, shall not be defined as a cigar bar and shall not thereafter be known as such regardless of sales figures. A cigar bar shall agree to provide adequate information to demonstrate to the state's satisfaction compliance with this definition;
C. "department" means the department of health;
D. "designated outdoor smoking area" means an area where smoking may be permitted, designated by an employer or manager, outside an indoor workplace or indoor public place; provided that the following conditions are maintained:
(1) smoking shall not be permitted near any building entrance, including a door, window or ventilation system of any facility where smoking is prohibited under the provisions of the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act, so as to prevent secondhand smoke from entering the indoor workplace or indoor public place; and
(2) employees or members of the general public are not required to walk through the smoking area to gain entrance to the indoor workplace or indoor public place;
E. "e-cigarette" means a product containing or delivering nicotine or another substance intended for human consumption that can be used by a person in any manner for the purpose of inhaling vapor or aerosol from the product, including a device, whether manufactured, distributed, marketed or sold as an e-cigarette, e-cigar, e-pipe, e-hookah or vape pen or under another product name or descriptor;
F. "employer" means an individual, a partnership, a corporation or the state or a political subdivision of the state that employs the services of one or more individuals;
G. "enclosed" means an interior space predominantly or totally bounded on all sides and above by physical barriers, regardless of whether such barriers consist of or include uncovered openings, screened or otherwise partially covered openings or open or closed windows;
H. "indoor public place" means the enclosed area within a governmental or nongovernmental place to which the public is invited or in which the public is permitted regardless of whether work or public business, meetings or hearings occur at any given time;
I. "indoor workplace" means an enclosed place where one or more persons engage in work, including lobbies, reception areas, offices, conference and meeting rooms, employee cafeterias and lunchrooms, break rooms and employee lounges, classrooms, auditoriums, hallways, stairways, waiting areas, elevators and restrooms and includes all indoor workplaces and enclosed parts regardless of whether work occurs at any given time;
J. "private club" means an organization, whether incorporated or not, that is the owner, lessee or occupant of a building or portion thereof used exclusively for the organization's purposes at all times, that is operated solely for recreational, fraternal, social, patriotic, political, benevolent or athletic purposes, but not for pecuniary gain, and that only sells alcoholic beverages incidental to its operation. The organization shall have bylaws or a constitution to govern its activities and shall have been granted an exemption as a club under the provisions of Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;
K. "retail tobacco store" means a retail store, used primarily for the sale of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, and accessories and in which the sale of other products is merely incidental, including smoke shops, cigar shops or hookah lounges, and does not include establishments that offer for sale alcoholic beverages for consumption by patrons on the premises;
L. "secondhand smoke" means:
(1) smoke emitted from inhaling from, exhaling from, burning, carrying or holding:
(a) a lighted or heated cigar, cigarette, hookah or pipe; or
(b) any other lighted or heated tobacco or plant product intended for inhalation, including cannabis, whether natural or synthetic; or
(2) the aerosol or vapor emitted from inhaling or exhaling or any other use of an e-cigarette;
M. "smokefree area" means a building or other enclosed space where smoking is prohibited;
N. "smoking" means:
(1) inhaling from, exhaling from, burning, carrying or holding:
(a) a lighted or heated cigar, cigarette, hookah or pipe; or
(b) any other lighted or heated tobacco or plant product intended for inhalation, including cannabis, whether natural or synthetic; or
(2) any use of an e-cigarette that creates an aerosol or vapor;
O. "smoking-permitted area" means a building or other enclosed space where smoking may be permitted; provided that secondhand smoke does not infiltrate any area where smoking is prohibited pursuant to the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act; and
P. "standalone building" means a building whose heating, air conditioning and ventilation system services only that building.
Laws 1985, ch. 85, § 3; 2007, ch. 20, § 2; 2019, ch. 128, §1.
NMSA 1978, § 24-16-4 Smoking prohibited
24-16-4. Smoking prohibited
A. It is unlawful for a person to smoke in any indoor workplace or indoor public place or in buses, taxicabs or other means of public transit not specifically exempted pursuant to the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act.
B. No part of the state capitol or capitol north shall be designated as a smoking-permitted area.
Laws 1985, ch. 85, § 4; 1999, ch. 250, § 1; 2002, ch. 2, § 1; 2007, ch. 20, § 3.
NMSA 1978, § 24-16-12 Smoking-permitted areas
24-16-12. Smoking-permitted areas
Notwithstanding any other provision of the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act, smoking-permitted areas include the following:
A. a private residence, unless it is used commercially to provide child care, adult care or health care or any combination of those activities;
B. a retail tobacco store; provided that, for a retail tobacco store established on or after the effective date of this 2019 act, the store shall be located in a standalone building;
C. a cigar bar; provided that, for a cigar bar established on or after June 14, 2019, the bar shall be located in a standalone building;
D. the facilities of a tobacco manufacturing company licensed by the United States to manufacture tobacco products that are operated by the company in its own name and that are used exclusively by the company in its business of manufacturing, marketing or distributing its tobacco products; provided that secondhand smoke does not infiltrate other indoor workplaces or other indoor public places where smoking is otherwise prohibited under the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act;
E. a state-licensed gaming facility, casino or bingo parlor;
F. designated outdoor smoking areas;
G. private clubs;
H. hotel and motel rooms that are rented to guests and are designated as smoking-permitted rooms; provided that not more than ten percent of rooms rented to guests in a hotel or motel may be so designated;
I. a site that is being used in connection with the practice of cultural or ceremonial activities by Native Americans and that is in accordance with the federal American Indian Religious Freedom Act, 42 U.S.C. 1996 and 1996a;
J. a theatrical stage or a motion picture or television production set when it is necessary for performers to smoke as part of the production; and
K. an indoor or outdoor cannabis consumption area pursuant to the Cannabis Regulation Act [Chapter 26, Article 2C NMSA 1978].
Laws 2007, ch. 20, § 4; 2019, ch. 128, § 2; 2021 (1st S.S.), ch. 4, § 57.
NMSA 1978, § 24-16-13 Prohibition of smoking near entrances, windows and ventilation systems
24-16-13. Prohibition of smoking near entrances, windows and ventilation systems
Smoking is prohibited near entrances, windows and ventilation systems of all workplaces and public places where smoking is prohibited by the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act. An individual who owns, manages, operates or otherwise controls the use of a premises subject to the provisions of the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act shall establish a smokefree area that extends a reasonable distance from any entrances, windows and ventilation systems to any enclosed areas where smoking is prohibited. The reasonable distance shall be a distance sufficient to ensure that persons entering or leaving the building or facility shall not be subjected to breathing secondhand smoke and to ensure that secondhand smoke does not enter the building or facility through entrances, windows, ventilation systems or any other means.
Laws 2007, ch. 20, § 5; 2019, ch. 128, § 3.
NMSA 1978, § 24-16-14 Responsibilities of employers
24-16-14. Responsibilities of employers
A. Employers shall provide that their places of employment meet the requirements of the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act.
B. An employer shall adopt, implement, post and maintain a written smoking policy pursuant to the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act.
Laws 2007, ch. 20, § 6.
NMSA 1978, § 24-16-15 Posted smokefree and smoking-permitted areas
24-16-15. Posted smokefree and smoking-permitted areas
A. To advise persons of the existence of smokefree areas or smoking-permitted areas, signs shall be posted as follows:
(1) for each indoor workplace or indoor public place where smoking is prohibited pursuant to the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act, a "NO SMOKING" sign shall be posted where it is clear, conspicuous and easily legible at each public entrance. Posting of "NO SMOKING" signs is the responsibility of the owner, operator, manager or other person having control of the indoor workplace or indoor public place; and
(2) for each indoor workplace or indoor public place where smoking is permitted pursuant to the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act, a "SMOKING PERMITTED" sign shall be posted where it is clear, conspicuous and easily legible at each public entrance, unless an owner, operator or manager chooses to prohibit smoking in all or part of an indoor workplace or indoor public place where smoking is otherwise permitted.
B. Nothing in the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act shall be construed so as to require the posting of signs at a residence, except during the hours of business operation while it is being used commercially to provide child care, adult care or health care or any combination of those activities.
Laws 2007, ch. 20, § 7.
NMSA 1978, § 24-16-16 Enforcement
24-16-16. Enforcement
A. The local fire, police or sheriff's department with appropriate jurisdiction over the location where a violation of the provisions of the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act occurs shall enforce that act by issuance of a citation.
B. A person may register a complaint regarding an alleged violation pursuant to the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act to initiate enforcement of that act with the department or the local fire, police or sheriff's department.
C. The designated enforcement agencies may inspect an establishment for compliance with the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act.
Laws 2007, ch. 20, § 8.
NMSA 1978, § 24-16-17 Violations
24-16-17. Violations
It is unlawful for a person who owns, manages, operates or otherwise controls the use of premises subject to regulation under the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act to violate its provisions. The owner, manager or operator of premises subject to regulation under the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act shall not be subject to a penalty if a person on the premises is in violation of the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act as long as the owner, manager or operator has posted signs, implemented the appropriate policy and informed the person that the person is in violation of the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act.
Laws 2007, ch. 20, § 9.
NMSA 1978, § 24-16-18 Penalties
24-16-18. Penalties
A person eighteen years of age or older who violates a provision of the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act is subject to:
A. a fine not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100) for the first violation of that act;
B. a fine not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200) for the second violation of that act within any consecutive twelve-month period of the first violation; and
C. a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500) for the third and each subsequent violation of that act within any consecutive twelve-month period of a previous violation.
Laws 2007, ch. 20, § 10.
NMSA 1978, § 24-16-19 Nonretaliation; nonwaiver
24-16-19. Nonretaliation; nonwaiver
A. A person or employer shall not discharge, refuse to hire or in any manner retaliate against an employee, applicant for employment or patron because that employee, applicant or patron exercises any rights afforded by the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act or reports or attempts to prosecute a violation of that act.
B. An employee who works in a setting where an employer allows smoking does not waive or otherwise surrender any legal rights the employee may have against the employer or any other party.
Laws 2007, ch. 20, § 11.
NMSA 1978, § 24-16-20 Explicit nonpreemption
24-16-20. Explicit nonpreemption
Nothing in the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act shall be construed to preempt or in any manner preclude specific provisions of a county or municipal smoking ordinance; provided that the smokefree provisions of such a county or municipal ordinance are inclusive of all minimum standards and provisions for smokefree areas within the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act.
Laws 2007, ch. 20, § 12.
Source: New Mexico Compilation Commission (nmonesource.com)URL: https://nmonesource.com/nmos/nmsa-unanno/en/item/18524/index.doFetched: 10/20/2026