"Only 16 to 17 percent of Californians smoke. Nonsmokers are less willing to accept the annoyance and unpleasantness now that smoking has been banned indoors," said Dr. David Burns, a spokesman for the American Lung Association of California.

Some residents are complaining that California's 1994 ban on smoking in all indoor workplaces means breathing more secondhand smoke outside, including restaurant patios, doorways of buildings, shopping centers, parks, and other public places.

"There is a tendency for smokers to congregate in certain locations, outside of restaurants or doorways. This creates conflict with nonsmokers who are also outside," Burns explained.

San Diego is considering an ordinance that would ban smoking within 50 feet of public playgrounds and recreation centers. The measure, which is expected to pass and go into effect next year, addresses complaints about cigarette butts piling up near areas where children play.

"The anti-smoking movement in California is reaching absurd levels," said Eric Schippers, spokesman of the National Smokers Alliance, an industry-funded consumer group which is opposed to smoking bans. The outdoors is the last bastion, after one's own home, now that they have closed down smoking in bars and restaurants."

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