States

Hospital smoking bans being enacted across the country
A state law went into effect on October 1st banning smoking at all hospitals and hospital grounds in Arkansas. Prior to enactment of the legislation, many hospitals in the state banned smoking voluntarily, but many had not implemented complete bans due to more lenient policies at neighboring institutions. Click for more information on the Arkansas legislation.
 
Beginning November 17th, both Deaconess and St. Vincent Healthcare in Montana will not allow smoking anywhere on their campuses, extending a ban that exists on smoking inside the hospitals. Click for more information.
 
Northwest Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle, Washington will be going 100% smoke-free in 2006. Only one other hospital in the city, Virginia Mason Medical Center, is currently smoke-free. Click for more information.
 
Officials at many of Iowa's 116 hospitals may pass stronger smoking bans since the Iowa Hospital Association endorsed smoke-free hospital campuses in June. Six hospitals in Des Moines plan to ban smoking campuswide, beginning on July 1, 2006. Click for more information.

Arizona:
 
Arizona health care industry work toward smoking ban
The Arizona Medical Association, Arizona Dental Association, Maricopa County Medical Society, Phoenix Children's Hospital and the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association have been working together on ballot language and a list of supporters for a statewide smoking ban. The groups promote the ban to reduce the smoking rate in the state and lower the incidence of smoking-related diseases. Click for more information.

California:
 
California becomes third state to enact fire-safe cigarette legislation
The California legislature overwhelmingly passed fire-safe cigarette legislation, and the bill was recently signed by Governor Schwarzenegger. The law requires all cigarettes sold in California to adhere to the same stringent fire safety standard adopted in New York, Vermont and Canada. Cigarettes are the leading cause of fire deaths in the United States, resulting in more than 1,000 deaths, 3,000 critical injuries, and $400 million in direct property damage each year. Fire-safe cigarettes are manufactured to allow for slow burning of the cigarette when not being used by the smoker. Ridges in the paper make them less likely to continue burning, lowering the risk of discarded cigarettes accidentally igniting bedding or upholstery. Click for more information. Click to view a response from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
 
California’s Anaheim City Council considers regulation of hookah bars
The Anaheim City Council will be meeting to discuss passing an ordinance to regulate hookah cafes, where hookah pipes are used to increase the effects of smoking tobacco. The ordinance is in response to a high volume of police calls from the establishments. The law would require the businesses to have ventilation and would prohibit any liquor or entertainment. Click for more information.

Colorado:
 
Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act to be introduced to state Senate
Colorado Senator Dan Grossman plans to introduce a smoking ban bill in the Senate that would prohibit smoking in any business with four or more employees, including restaurants, bars and casinos. The bill is an attempt to address the disparity between bans in neighboring communities, and so has the support of the Colorado Restaurant Association. Click for more information.

District of Columbia:
 
George Washington University smoking ban takes effect
Smoking of any kind is now banned in residence halls at George Washington University. Former Residence Hall Association Vice President Jon Ostorwer and University officials support the restriction primarily as a safety issue. Open-flamed objects including cigarettes and cigars are now banned from GW dorm rooms. Click for more information.
 
D.C. Health Committee approves smoking ban
Legislation that would ban smoking in all District bars and restaurants by January 2007 has been approved by the D.C. Council's Health Committee. The full council will vote on the measure as early as December. Smoke-free air legislation has been stalled in the council's Public Works and Environment Committee for the past two years. The proposed bill would make exemptions for outdoor areas, cigar bars, hotel rooms, retail tobacco outlets and facilities that research the effects of smoking and would provide for an economic-hardship waiver for businesses that can demonstrate a "significant, negative impact.'' Click for more information.

Florida:
 
Florida amendment to require anti-smoking spending moving forward
Floridians for Youth Tobacco Education are collecting signatures to put an amendment on the 2006 ballot that would require that 15% of tobacco settlement payments to the state go to pay for a statewide tobacco education and prevention program. The organization has gathered more than 250,000 of the 600,000 signatures required. Click for more information.

Georgia:
 
Georgia’s counties roll back smoking bans
Gwinnett County commissioners have rewritten the county smoking ordinance to mirror the less stringent statewide prohibition that took effect July 1st . As of November 1st, bars will be allowed to serve smokers as long as owners do not allow anyone under 18 on the premises. Bar owners may also construct an enclosed smoking room with a separate ventilation system to circumvent the ban. Rockdale County’s ordinance has been subject to a similar rollback, and Valdosta is considering a rewrite as well. Click for more information. (Registration required.)

Illinois:
 
Chicago City Council's Health Committee unanimously approves smoking ban
The Chicago City Council's Health Committee has unanimously passed a smoking ban, which will now go to the full Council for a vote. The ordinance would ban smoking in almost all public places, including bars and restaurants. The Council is still facing opposition from the Illinois Restaurant Association, which had initially been fighting for a "smoking license" to provide Chicago restaurants, bars and bowling alleys the opportunity to pay for the privilege to be exempt, and more recently began focusing on the distinction between bars and restaurants instead. Click for more information.
 
Most Springfield, IL voters support smoking ban
According to a poll commissioned by the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association of Illinois and Iowa, 65% of voters polled supported a prohibition on smoking "in all indoor workplaces, restaurants, bars, public buildings and other public places in Springfield." Click for more information.
 
Illinois legislator seeks ban on smoking in college residence halls
Representative John Fritchey intends to introduce legislation to ban smoking in residence halls of public and private universities in Illinois. The legislator is concerned about the harmful effects of secondhand smoke and the fire hazard associated with cigarettes. Click for more information.

Indiana:
 
Indiana’s Monroe County toughens smoking ban
Monroe County, Indiana has strengthened its smoking ban to include all workplaces beginning February 1st. The strengthened ordinance now matches Bloomington’s more stringent city ordinance. Click for more information.

Kentucky:
 
Georgetown smoking ban goes into effect
A ban on smoking went into effect in Georgetown, Kentucky on October 1st with little public opposition. The ordinance prohibits smoking in all enclosed public areas, including retail stores, business offices and restaurants. However, less than a week after the implementation date, the City Council voted to make changes to the ban to allow smoking in certain break rooms and at bingo halls. Click for more information.
 
Louisville, KY prepares for smokefree air law implementation
In preparation for the implementation of its new smokefree air ordinance on November 15th, the Louisville Metro Government has developed a toolkit containing reference guides explaining how the law will be enforced, answers to frequently-asked questions about the law, no-smoking signs and table tents that can be downloaded and printed for use in businesses, text of the ordinance, sample smoke-free workplace policies and exemption forms. Click to access the toolkit. Click for more information on the impending implementation.

Maryland:
 
Restaurants not harmed by smoking ban in Maryland
Smokefree Maryland commissioned a report which compared sales tax revenues in counties in Maryland which passed a ban two years ago with those which did not. The researchers, William Evans of the University of Maryland and Andrew Hyland of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, found that the smoking ban is not hurting sales tax revenues or affecting restaurant employment. Click for more information on the study. Howard County in Maryland is now also considering banning smoking from restaurants and bars. Click for more information on the debate.

Massachusetts:
 
Massachusetts lawmakers review smoking ban
The 14 month-old statewide workplace smoking ban in Massachusetts is being reviewed by lawmakers in hopes of extending the ban to parks and beaches. Opponents of the ban would like to see bars exempted from the law. House chairman of the Public Health committee of the state legislature believes there is not momentum for change in either direction, either to strengthen or weaken the ban. Click for more information.
 
Massachusetts Public Safety Committee unanimously passes fire-safe cigarette bill
Massachusetts’ Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security unanimously passed the “fire-safe cigarettes” bill from committee, taking Massachusetts one step closer to being the fourth state to enact fire safety standards for cigarettes, following New York in 2000, Vermont in May 2005, and California in October 2005. Click for more information on the proposed legislation.

Minnesota:
 
R.J. Reynolds funds Duluth Hospitality League to oppose statewide smoking ban
The Twin Ports Youth and Tobacco Free Coalition has revealed that North Carolina-based cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. paid $2,500 to the Duluth Hospitality League to oppose the statewide smoking ban in Minnesota. The company spent a total of $39,676 between March 1st and May 31st, according to a report the company filed with the state on June 30th. Click for more information.

Montana:
 
Montana statewide smoking ban takes effect
The Montana statewide smoking ban took effect on October 1st, prohibiting smoking in all buildings open to the public except bars, which will be phased in in 2009. The law exempts establishments that prohibit employees and patrons younger than the age of 18. Callers, mostly business owners, swamped a toll-free phone line set up by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services to take calls about the smoking ban. In addition to the phone line, the department plans to send information packets to owners of bars, casinos and other businesses and is currently establishing rules designed to define and explain the law's details. Click here for more information. There's also additional information available by clicking here.
 
Blackfeet Nation in Montana has its own smoking ban
Montana’s new statewide smoking ban does not apply on American Indian reservations, but the Blackfeet Reservation in northcentral Montana has voluntarily passed its own, more restrictive ban. According to Lori New Breast, tobacco-use prevention director for the Blackfeet, other Montana tribes are discussing passing similar bans, but only the Blackfeet Tribe has put a ban into tribal law so far. Click for more information.

New Jersey:
 
New Jersey could become smokefree
A number of legislators, Gubernatorial candidates, and a senator in New Jersey have discussed the possibility of New Jersey becoming a smokefree state at a recent community conference. The conference was hosted by the South West Council and the Cumberland County Communities Against Tobacco. Both sides of the issue were discussed, including a decision to exempt casinos. Click for more information. (Registration required.)
 
Garden Staters support smoking ban
Sixty-five percent of New Jerseyans support a smoking ban in restaurants, while only 46% oppose a ban in bars. In addition, 50% support a ban in casinos. Click for more information.

New York:
 
Less cigarette fire deaths in New York one year after self-extinguishing cigarette law passes
In 2004, New York passed a state bill requiring all cigarettes to self-extinguish. Since that time, 28 New Yorkers perished in blazes linked to smoldering cigarettes - down from 44 such deaths in 2001, 38 in 2002 and more than 30 in 2003. The director of the Center for a Tobacco Free New York strongly suggests that cigarette companies should make the slow-burn cigarettes available to all Americans. Click for more information.

North Dakota:
 
North Dakota Attorney General rules that restaurant can’t become bar to allow smoking
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has issued an opinion that a restaurant by day cannot become a bar at night in order to be exempt from North Dakota’s statewide ban on indoor smoking. The law bans smoking in restaurants, but allows it in bars, including a bar that is part of a restaurant, bowling alley or motel. Click for more information.

Ohio:
 
Ohio moving forward in effort for statewide ban
Organizations in Ohio are trying to get a statewide ban by gathering thousands of signatures to put the issue on the ballot in November 2006. The petitions will be filed on November 17th, coinciding with the Great American Smokeout. If the ban were approved, Ohio would become the first state in the Midwest to ban smoking in all indoor places. Click for more information.

Oklahoma:
 
Oklahoma receives tobacco settlement money
Oklahoma’s state treasurer has confirmed that the state has received over $741,000 from a settlement with the tobacco industry. Seventy percent of the payment went directly into the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Fund (TSET), which now has a balance of more than $242 million. TSET was created by a voter-approved amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution in 2000, specifying that only the earnings from the trust fund may be spent on programs to improve the health and well being of Oklahomans, particularly children and senior adults. Click for more information.

Oregon:
 
One of nation’s oldest rodeos bans free chewing tobacco
Oregon’s Pendleton Round-Up, one of the nation’s oldest rodeos, has banned tobacco companies from giving out free samples of snuff. Rates of chew tobacco use are far higher in Oregon’s rural counties than in its metro areas. Click for more information. (Registration required.)
 
Portland public transportation stations go smoke-free
Portland, Oregon bus shelters and most MAX stations went smoke-free beginning September 26th, with enforcement beginning January 1st. Violators face a $94 fine or may be barred from riding. Click for more information. (Registration required.)

Pennsylvania:
 
Pennsylvania smoking ban faces opposition
Tobacco use prevention groups, including SmokeFree Pennsylvania and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, informed Pennsylvania state legislators that if a smoking ban is enacted, loopholes, such as providing separate ventilation systems, would need to be eliminated. The bill is currently in the House Health and Human Services committee. Members from the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association also say they oppose the new statewide ban because it doesn’t apply to every industry in the state, such as protecting workers with home cleaning services. Click for more information.
 
Pennsylvania county prison to go smoke-free
Chester County prison in Pennsylvania has signed an almost $2.5 million health care contract that indicates that the provider, PrimeCare Medical, will assist in making the institution smoke-free. The smoking ban will be phased in. Click for more information.
 
Death of Philadelphia Councilman could affect proposed smoking ban
Philadelphia Councilman David Cohen, a strong proponent of the city’s proposed smoking ban, passed away in early October. Councilman Michael Nutter, the bill’s sponsor, has been struggling to garner another vote in favor of the ban to replace Cohen’s. Councilman Nutter hopes to see the bill pass before the end of the year. Click for more information.

Texas:
 
Smoking ban passes easily in Corpus Christi
A smoking ban has been approved by 70% of voters in the city of Corpus Christi, TX. Bars, including bars in restaurants, are exempt. The new ordinance went into effect on September 20th. Click for more information.
 
Smoking banned in Houston restaurants
A smoking ban has gone in to effect in Houston, prohibiting smoking in dining areas of restaurants, covered bus stops, and taxis not designated as smoking; but not in restaurant bars, free-standing bars, outdoor dining areas, or designated smoking sections at public buildings. The ban was considered to be a compromise between restaurant and bar owners and anti-smoking advocates. Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights has stated that the legislation is the weakest ordinance enacted by a major city or state in years. Click for more information.
 
Austin smoking ban upheld
On September 1st, changes went into effect strengthening Austin’s smokefree air law to include bars, nightclubs, bowling alleys and previously exempted restaurants. Ten bar owner challenged the ban in federal court, claiming the new law had driven away customers. A U.S. District Judge has upheld the ban, while limiting fines to $500 instead of $2,000 and requiring judicial review to revoke a license. Click for more information.

Vermont:
 
Vermont strengthens law to become smoke-free state
Vermont has become the eighth state to be designated a smokefree state. On September 1st, changes to the existing law went into effect, prohibiting smoking in all bars and private clubs in the state. The other smokefree states include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, which all prohibit smoking in most workplaces, including restaurants and bars. Click for more information on Vermont’s new strengthened legislation or for more information on state laws prohibiting smoking.

Washington:
 
Initiative 901 in Washington would ban smoking from building entrances
Citizens in Washington State will soon vote on Initiative 901, which would ban smoking in bars, taverns, restaurants, and non-tribal casinos, as well as within 25 feet of building entrances, exits, windows, and ventilation intakes. The law is expected to pass due to popular support and weak opposition. Click for more information.
 
Washington residents support bar and restaurant smoking bans
A survey in King and Pierce counties in Washington state demonstrates that customers support bar and restaurant smoking bans. Ninety percent of those surveyed consider second hand smoke harmful, 60% have avoided bars over the past 12 months because of smoking, and 77% support a ban on smoking. Click for more information.

West Virginia:
 
Ban goes into effect in Mercer County, WV
The Mercer County Clean Indoor Air Act went into effect October 1st, after years of debate. Click for more information.

Wisconsin:
 
Smoking bans upheld in Madison and Appleton
On July 1st, Madison’s smoke-free air ordinance changed to include stand-alone bars. This change was upheld on September 21st, when the city council voted 10-9 to keep its smokefree air ordinance as is. Click for more information. Also in Wisconsin, a judge upheld a smoking ban in workplaces in Appleton after a challenge to the ordinance by 35 local tavern owners. Click for more information on this decision. State senators have temporarily put aside a bill that would pre-empt local smoking bans to allow people to light up in bars and certain restaurants. This bill would override the stricter bans in Madison and Appleton. Click for more information.

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