A Pennsylvania state senator has announced plans to introduce a bill that would remove the majority of exemptions to the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act of 2008, and if passes, would seemingly mean an end to smoking in cigar shops as well as a number of other places.
Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Millcreek Township, told GoErie.com that he plans to introduce the legislation this year, with PAPost.org noting that it could come before the end of June. Among the places that qualify for exemptions under the current law and thus the targets of the proposed bill are private clubs, drinking establishments where food makes up less than 20 percent of business receipts, outdoor patios and decks of bars and restaurants, and manufacturers, importers and wholesalers of tobacco products. Laughlin’s planned bill would also eliminate smoking at full-service truck stops, fundraisers held by non-profit and charitable organizations, as well as long-term residential adult care and service facilities and those that provide treatment programs.
Laughlin is also seeking to ban the use of e-cigarettes wherever the smoking of tobacco products is prohibited.
There is one category of places that wouldn’t lose their exemption, however: casinos. Laughlin said that they tend to a better job circulating and cleaning the air within and thus have earned the continued exemption.
In the article, Laughlin admitted that the proposal hasn’t garnered much interest from fellow lawmakers, but feels it is worth pursuing for the sake of protecting workers from having to inhale secondhand smoke.