Clean air act in effect Friday; local plant gets jump on it

Publication Date: 2006-07-17

• Author:Donna Hilton
• Publication:Siftings (AR) Herald

Beginning Friday, smokers in Arkansas will have to take it outside. Although very few places allowed smoking indoors, the Clean Indoor Air Act, approved by legislators as Act 8 in April, prohibits smoking in all public buildings and work places and restaurants.

The law was passed to protect Arkansans from secondhand smoke, said Dr. Paul K. Halverson, director of the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services.

"The Clean Indoor Air Act is a huge step for health in Arkansas," Halverson said.

He also urged companies to comply with the law and carefully consider making any modifications to allow indoor smoking. Ventilation systems are not an alternative to compliance, Halverson said...

Under the law, smoking can only occur out-of-doors, in private homes not used as daycare facilities and in retail and wholesale tobacco establishments. Persons may also smoke in restaurants or bars that restrict patronage to those over 21. Businesses with "fewer than three" employees are also exempt from the law.