The North Myrtle Beach City Council on Monday, April 6, 2026 gave first-reading approval to a proposed amendment that would prohibit smoking and the use of e-cigarettes on every public beach, beach walkover, dune crossover, and public beach access point in the city, in response to concerns about the North Myrtle Beach Smoking ban.

A second and final reading is scheduled for the next regular council meeting on Monday, April 20, 2026. If the council signs off again, lighting a cigarette or a vape on the sand would no longer be allowed for the visitors who drive the city’s tourism economy.

Understanding the North Myrtle Beach Smoking ban

A unanimous first step, but not the final word

The council voted unanimously on first reading, according to local news coverage of the April 6 meeting. Under North Myrtle Beach’s council-manager form of government, ordinances require two readings at separate meetings before they take effect, so nothing has changed on the beach yet. Several news outlets reported that the measure now advances to the April 20 session, where a second favorable vote would send it into the city code.

**For tourists arriving this spring, the key date is April 20** — the day the ban either becomes law or heads back to the drawing board. Until then, existing rules apply.

What the ordinance actually covers

The proposed amendment to Chapter 5 of the city code targets smoking and the use of e-cigarettes on public beaches, beach walkovers, dune crossovers, and public beach access points, according to MyrtleBeachSC News, which quoted the ordinance language directly. WPDE ABC15 and WMBF News confirm the same scope. That means the sandy shoreline, the wooden crossovers visitors walk to reach it, and the public entry points threading through oceanfront neighborhoods would all fall under the restriction.

The North Myrtle Beach Smoking ban ordinance as introduced covers cigarettes and e-cigarettes. It does not, in the reporting available, extend to cigars, pipes, hookah, or smokeless tobacco. Visitors renting oceanfront condos should also note that the restriction applies to the public beach itself, not to private balconies or rental decks.

A ban without fines — and a mayor who admits North Myrtle Beach Smoking ban enforcement is hard

One detail sets North Myrtle Beach apart from coastal neighbors that have already gone smoke-free on the sand: the proposed amendment as introduced does not set fines or specific penalties. Mayor J.O. Baldwin III said no-smoking signs will serve as the deterrent. He was blunt about why.

“There’s no way we can have somebody go up and down the beach. That’s what we were struggling with years ago,” Baldwin said in comments reported by MyHorryNews.

City Manager Ryan Fabbri told the council the ordinance had to cover beach access points, or the city would “get chokepoints or bottlenecks” of concentrated smoking at the entries, according to MyHorryNews.

Councilwoman Jeri McCumbee said the Chamber of Commerce will help market North Myrtle Beach as a no-smoking beach to incoming visitors, the same outlet reported. A North Myrtle Beach city spokesperson, Lauren Jessie, told local news the goal was to avoid forcing beachgoers to walk through “a cloud of smoke” at the access points.

Tourists will recognize this story — North Myrtle Beach Smoking ban has played out up and down the coast

North Myrtle Beach would not be breaking new ground on the South Carolina coast. Surfside Beach has prohibited smoking on its beaches since a 2008 ordinance, and the town’s own beach-rules page, with violations treated as civil infractions in the $10 to $25 range. Folly Beach, outside Charleston, passed its beach smoking ban on March 10, 2021, with first-offense fines starting at $25. Isle of Palms prohibits smoking and vaping on the beach and on beach access paths under a similar low-dollar civil penalty. Hilton Head Island, by contrast, does not ban smoking on its beaches, according to a Yahoo/Island Packet fact-check — its 2009 ordinance reaches only indoor public spaces.

Closer to home, the city of Myrtle Beach considered a similar proposal in 2020 but did not enact one. Of Horry County’s two largest beach cities, North Myrtle Beach would become the only one to prohibit smoking on the sand if the amendment clears second reading.

What happens on April 20 — and what it means for your beach chair

If the council approves the ordinance on second reading April 20, North Myrtle Beach would join Surfside Beach, Folly Beach, and Isle of Palms among South Carolina coastal communities that ban smoking on the sand. Smoking would then become the latest addition to a growing list of rules already on the public beach, which prohibits alcohol, glass containers, and fireworks year-round and restricts dogs, tents, and cabanas during peak season. Cigarette butts have ranked as one of the most-collected items in international beach cleanups for decades and remain the largest category of beach litter by some measures, according to NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management — a point council members cited among the reasons to act.

The April 20 meeting will decide whether visitors to North Myrtle Beach this summer pack an ashtray or leave the cigarettes in the car.

Further Reading

– WMBF News — [North Myrtle Beach considers smoking ban on public beaches](https://www.wmbfnews.com/2026/04/08/north-myrtle-beach-considers-smoking-ban-public-beaches/)

– WPDE ABC15 — [NMB approves first reading of ordinance to ban smoking on public beaches](https://wpde.com/news/local/nmb-passes-first-reading-of-ordinance-to-ban-smoking-on-public-beaches-vapes-cigarettes-prohibited-04072026-pollute-earth-environment-impact)

– MyHorryNews — [North Myrtle Beach gives first reading approval to ban smoking on the beach](https://www.myhorrynews.com/news/north-myrtle-beach-gives-first-reading-approval-to-ban-smoking-on-the-beach/article_44a5cff8-f3ed-4ec3-8284-727b605a5423.html)

– City of North Myrtle Beach — [April 6, 2026 agenda item 1379](https://www.nmb.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/1379?fileID=4418)

– North Myrtle Beach Code of Ordinances, Chapter 5 — [Beaches and Waterways](https://library.municode.com/sc/north_myrtle_beach/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH5BEWA)

– NOAA Office for Coastal Management — [What is the most common form of ocean litter?](https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/most-common-ocean-litter.html)

– WPDE ABC15 — [Four years later, Surfside Beach adjusts to smoking ban](https://wpde.com/news/local/four-years-later-surfside-beach-adjusts-to-smoking-ban)

– WBTW — [Myrtle Beach city council could consider smoking ban on beach, public places](https://www.wbtw.com/news/grand-strand/myrtle-beach-city-council-could-consider-smoking-ban-on-beach-public-places/)