Legislative panel reviews smoking ban regulations

Publication Date: 2006-06-07

• Author:Aaron Sadler
• Publication:Arkansas News Bureau

Lawmakers troubled by proposed regulations regarding a workplace smoking ban said Tuesday that business owners need a bit more clarification and much more education before the anti-smoking law takes effect July 21.

Members of the House and Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor committees spent more than an hour questioning state health officials about the regulations before endorsing the set of rules.

The regulations are the Department of Health and Human Services enforcement mechanism for the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006. The act, approved during an April special session, prohibits smoking in nearly all public places.

The regulations created by the state Board of Health set out exactly where smoking will be banned, lists specific exemptions from the ban and provides for a penalty of up to $1,000 for violators.