Bill seeks to add private clubs and fire halls to Delaware's indoor smoking ban

Publication Date: 2014-06-14

• Author:James Dawson
• Publication:WDDE 91.1 FM

Private clubs and fire halls would no longer be exempt from Delaware's indoor smoking ban under a new bill.

When the Clean Indoor Air Act was enacted in 1994, exceptions for clubs like Veterans of Foreign Wars halls and other fraternal organizations were carved out because of pushback over government intrusion.

House Majority Whip John Viola (D-Newark) sponsors the bill, noting he's heard from some veterans with respiratory conditions who can't attend functions at the halls.

"They won't go in because there's smoking and between asthma, COPD and so on, they can't take the smoke," said Viola...