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Santa Clara County wants to ban smoking in apartment buildings  

Santa Clara County took aim Tuesday at smokers and drinkers, with proposals to ban smoking in apartment buildings and toughen penalties for those who provide alcohol to minors.

The smoking proposal was unveiled by Supervisor Ken Yeager, who was sworn in as the board's new president. It echoes a controversial law passed last year by Belmont, which garnered national headlines. . . .

But his proposed ban on smoking in apartment buildings takes its inspiration from further north. Belmont last year became California's first city to install such a ban; Richmond has followed suit, and Menlo Park council members are still weighing the issue. Yeager's proposal differs in that it would not target condominiums or townhomes.

Yeager also wants the county to ban smoking in parks, as San Jose has done, and to prohibit pharmacies from selling cigarettes.

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