---
type: "Bill"
title: "Smoking tobacco in the workplace: transient lodging establishments."
description: "Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, prohibits smoking of tobacco products inside an enclosed space, as defined, at a place of employment. The violation of the prohibition against smoking in enclosed spaces of places of employment is an infraction punishable by a specified fine. Existing law establishes specified exemptions from \"place of employment\" that allow smoking in certain work environments, including an exemption for up to 20% of the guestroom accommodations in a hotel, motel, or similar transient lodging establishment."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "SB 626"
citation: "California SB 626 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Smoking tobacco in the workplace", "transient lodging establishments"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Rubio"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 19
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-02-16"
last_action: "2023-09-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2b7b13e2-affe-4db8-9a0a-500c1430e982"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB626"
source_hash: "5c5c505e7000b7f2802c35c7f55887b778b71139bca01064fa542a50d413cdb8"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 626 (20232024) — Smoking tobacco in the workplace: transient lodging establishments.

Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, prohibits smoking of tobacco products inside an enclosed space, as defined, at a place of employment. The violation of the prohibition against smoking in enclosed spaces of places of employment is an infraction punishable by a specified fine. Existing law establishes specified exemptions from "place of employment" that allow smoking in certain work environments, including an exemption for up to 20% of the guestroom accommodations in a hotel, motel, or similar transient lodging establishment.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/16/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB626&version=20230SB62699INT)
2. **09/08/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB626&version=20230SB62697CHP)
3. **SB626** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB626)
4. **08/25/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB626&version=20230SB62698ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **12–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading SB626 Rubio et al. — **33–5** (pass) · upper
- SB 626 Rubio Senate Third Reading By Connolly — **64–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Rubio — primary (person)
- Ashby — coauthor (person)
- Smallwood-Cuevas — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-02-16** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-02-17** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 19.
- **2023-03-01** Referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-11** Set for hearing April 19.
- **2023-04-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 833.) (April 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-21** Set for hearing May 1.
- **2023-05-01** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2023-05-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-22** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 33. Noes 5. Page 1209.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-23** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2023-05-26** Referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-15** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 14). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-07-12** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (July 12). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-07-13** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-08-24** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 64. Noes 1. Page 2796.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-08-24** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2023-08-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2023-09-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-09-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 182, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2b7b13e2-affe-4db8-9a0a-500c1430e982`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).