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Palm Desert looking at new outdoor smoking rules  

Taking a cigarette break by the office door or lighting up on a restaurant patio may be about to get harder for smokers in Palm Desert.

The City Council is expected to vote on an update of the city's smoking ordinance that will require smokers to move 20 feet away from buildings' and businesses primary entrance so nonsmokers entering or exiting the premises are not confronted with a small cloud of secondhand smoke.

Other changes in the law include:

-- Restaurants or bars that allow smoking on their patios will have to make sure their smoking areas are not within 20 feet of the business's primary entrance.

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