Bill on Smoking in Parks Meets Defeat in House Committee

Publication Date: 2012-02-10

• Publication:Sun (VA) Gazette

General Assembly legislation that would have allowed local governments to prohibit smoking in public parks died an quick death once taken up in the House of Delegates.

A subcommittee of the House Committee on Cities, Counties and Towns voted unanimously Feb. 9 to lay the bill on the table, effectively killing it for the session.

Virginia law currently does not allow local governments to ban smoking in outdoor areas of public parks. Arlington officials last year began a campaign to encourage the public not to smoke in local parks, but acknowledged at the time that the county government doesn’t have authority to ban smoking...