State Status
No Preemption
Quote
"The immediate implications for our business are clear: if our consumers have fewer opportunities to enjoy our products, they will use them less frequently and the result will be an adverse impact on our bottom line. Even more important, accommodation / preemption laws shape the real-world environment in which our customers and their non-smoking friends and associates live every day. If smokers are banished to doorways and loading docks in front of buildings, it makes smokers feel like outcasts and gives encouragement to the antis. On the other hand, if we live in a society that accommodates smokers and non-smokers alike, it sends the message that smoking is a viable life-style choice and an adult's decision to use a legal product should be respected."
Tina WallsPhilip Morris (PM)
Northern Mariana Islands
In CNMI, all non-hospitality workplaces are 100% smokefree and the law went into effect on September 29, 2009. Although the law makes most public places smokefree, it unfortunately exempts bars, attached bar areas of restaurants, casinos, and departure terminals in airports - and the people who work in those worksites. This law was a step forward to protect the health of CNMI's workers and visitors, but work must be done to strengthen it to protect health in all indoor worksites.
In 2016, the Legislature adopted Senate Bill 19-23, which prohibits the use of electronic cigarettes where smoking is prohibited and prohibits minors under the age of 18 from using them as of February 11, 2016.
Read CNMI's smokefree workplace law.
The 19th CNMI Legislature is currently in session.