Colorado lawmakers enacted the law to protect and enhance the health, comfort and environment of residents by reducing exposure to secondhand smoke.

Secondhand smoke is a proven cause of lung cancer and heart disease and has been associated with asthma and other serious breathing problems. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, it contains more than 4,000 chemicals, over 60 of which are known carcinogens.

The law covers most indoor public spaces and most workplaces, such as restaurants, bars, gaming venues like bingo halls, pool halls, bowling alleys, taxicabs, schools, and child day care and health care facilities, among others. In general, most businesses must be smoke-free. In addition, a 15-foot zone around business entryways must be smoke-free unless a local law defines it differently. “Entryways” refers to the outside of the front or main doorway leading into a building.

Under the law, the following are not required to be smoke-free: the retail floor plan of casinos, cigar-tobacco bars, privately hired limousines, up to 25 percent of rented hotel or motel rooms, the smoking lounges at Denver International Airport, employers with three or fewer employees that do not allow public access, and private non-residential buildings on a farm or ranch with annual gross income under $500,000.

Yes. Smoking is permitted in private residences, homes and automobiles, unless they are used for child day care.

Yes. The law defines an “airport smoking concession” as a bar, restaurant or both inside a public airport with regularly scheduled domestic and international commercial flights, where smoking is permitted in a fully enclosed and independently ventilated area. DIA is the only Colorado airport that fits this definition.

The law requires every place of employment to be smoke-free, except a workplace that is not open to the public and has three or fewer employees. As the law defines it, "employee means any person who performs any type of work for benefit of another in consideration of direct or indirect wages or profit or provides uncompensated work (volunteer) or service to a business or nonprofit entity."

Under the law, every indoor area of a covered workplace must be smoke-free.

No. The law bans smoking in restrooms, lobbies, hallways and other shared areas of public and private buildings, condominiums and other multi-unit residential facilities.

Under the law, violators face a $200 fine for the first violation, a $300 fine for the second violation and a $500 fine for each violation per day thereafter within a calendar year. To report a violation, call the non-emergency number of the local law enforcement agency. It helps to have the date, approximate time and place of the violation, a description of what happened, and your contact information in case more details are needed.

Yes. Colorado was the 13th state to adopt smoke-free legislation covering workplaces, restaurants and bars. Other states with similar smoke-free laws include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and Washington.