San Marcos City Council voted 6–0 on Sept. 17 to ban smoking in public places.

The ordinance, which requires a second vote at the Oct. 1 council meeting, applies to public indoor spaces such as workplaces, bars and restaurants, but it allows smoking at patios and other outdoor areas.

The ban takes effect June 1, 2014.

Speaking to council members before the vote, Dr. Philip Huang, medical director and health authority for the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department, said protection from secondhand smoke should outweigh the rights of business owners.

"We do not allow restaurants to not refrigerate their food and have their employees not wash their hands, and this is the same public health protection," Huang said. "It's not just business owners' rights to do anything they want."

He added that Austin did not suffer an adverse economic impact when it implemented a smoking ban in 2005.

"And that's been repeated throughout the country," he said.

No one spoke against the ban during the meeting.

In addition to the indoor smoking ban, the ordinance prohibits smoking on all city-owned and city-leased property. It exempts retail tobacco stores, private residences and hotel or motel rooms designated as smoking rooms.

Council also approved an amendment put forward by Councilman Ryan Thomason that gives some businesses an extra seven months to comply with the ban.

At establishments that receive a building permit by June 1, 2014, to modify their property for outdoor use, people will be allowed to smoke indoors until Jan. 1, 2015.

San Marcos' building code requires an engineer's seal of approval to make any modifications, Thomason said.

"And that could take a considerable amount of time to get that in the works," he said. "Even the mildest of outdoor modifications would require that. If somebody wanted to do a rooftop [patio], this would allow them time to get that done."

The ordinance also bans smoking in public parks. Violation of the ordinance is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by $200 for a first conviction, $500 for a second conviction and $2,000 for a third conviction.