Tobacco-free state government properties – 2/24/12

Q: This month, Oklahoma’s governor signed an executive order making all state property tobacco free. We would like to know if any other states have, either through policy or law, made their state properties tobacco-free (indoors and/or outdoors). What exceptions and/or exemptions exist, if any? Please share a copy of your policy, if available, as well as any relevant resources and experience.

Note: National tobacco control organizations, such as American Lung Association and Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, actively track smoke-free air and other tobacco-related policies. In this request, we are focusing on tobacco-free policies, which prohibit the use of all tobacco products.

A:

1. Alabama: Our State Health Officer just asked that our health departments go tobacco free campus-wide. The attached package of resources and tobacco free campus policy implementation timeline were used to aid area administrators in making county health department campuses smoke-free. We also printed "courtesy cards" to give to people who may not have been aware of the policy. (Education tool to make it easier for health department staff to increase compliance with the policy.) They look like business cards and use some of the language found in the smoke-free campus packet.
    
2. Louisiana: There was some interest in a tobacco-free policy, but it has not yet passed. However, a bill has been filed this session to allow the prohibition of smoking in DHH psychiatric facilities, which could aid in the statewide policy.
    
   Update: Louisiana now has a tobacco-free policy for its Department of Health and Hospitals property, effective April 9, 2012. A copy of the policy can be viewed here.
    
3. Minnesota: The Minnesota Department of Health policy is attached in the event folks find it useful. [Editor’s note: the Minnesota Department of Health smoke-free policy includes a broad definition of “smoking materials” that includes smokeless tobacco among the banned smoking materials]
    
4. Missouri: Missouri does not have the comprehensive policy for the entire state, but we do have a policy for our Department of Health & Senior Services (DHSS) where the Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program is housed, making it almost tobacco-free. The types of tobacco covered are in the policy attached – and it is comprehensive, including even e-cigarettes.
    
   The “almost” is not because of the types of tobacco, but because some of the DHSS properties are shared with other state departments, so the control of them is not totally up to us. In addition, the main campus has designated smoking areas in the far corners of the parking lot. This is because we had problems with smokers congregating on the public street directly across from a residential area when we started the policy in March 2010. With beautiful spring days, the closest residents (who are either retired or did not work during the day) had their windows open & a considerable amount of smoke drifted into their yards & their homes. It was difficult to resolve this issue & as a result our department director decided to bring the smoking back to the campus, but in 2 designated areas only – as far from public visibility as possible.
    
   Other states should consider where smokers will go to smoke when the campus is tobacco free. If there are schools or homes nearby, they need to decide how that will be handled.
    
5. South Dakota: In implementing South Dakota’s Tobacco Free Environment policy, we did many things right, and a few things could have been improved.
    
   What we did right:
    
   • This legislation was brought forth during our legislative session (January-March) and enacted July 1, so there was plenty of time for dialogue as well as communication, and education.
      
   • We improved the tobacco cessation services offered though the SD-QuitLine, and really promoted those to state employees so that those who wanted to kick the habit would have free cessation services available to them to assist them.
      
   • We challenged the three largest health systems in the state to adopt comprehensive tobacco free buildings and grounds policy too and all four of us rolled this tobacco-free campus policy out at the same time. This created a lot of press and our public messages about the tobacco free campus policies reinforced one another.
      
   • We also challenged businesses that were not already required by state law to take their buildings and grounds smoke or tobacco free, as well as provided model policy and technical assistance to help them do so.
      
   • We began charging each tobacco user $ 60.00 a month more for state health insurance, so in a family where both husband and wife are tobacco users it cost $ 120.00 more.
      
   Areas for improvement:
    
   • We should have included all state properties and vehicles that are not under the control of the governor as well, such as our six public universities and state parks.
      
   • We should have recommended and encouraged cities with state government buildings also adopt comprehensive tobacco free buildings and grounds policy at the same time, as we currently have state employees standing on the sidewalks in front of state properties and smoking, as technically the sidewalks are municipal property and not state property.
      
   • We should have provided additional financial incentives to quit, or additional financial deterrents for continuing to use tobacco.
      
6. West Virginia: Here in WV, all state property is SMOKE-Free (but not AS YET Tobacco-Free)… Here is a legal “discussion” from TCLC when we asked the same question in 2005.

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Other Responses

7. American Lung Association: The summaries in the ALA’s Tobacco Policy Project / State Legislated Actions on Tobacco Issues (SLATI) of laws concerning state government buildings does not list any that make state property tobacco-free. SLATI does not have comprehensive information on executive order and state policies (rather than laws) because we don’t have a way to track these other than by word of mouth.

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