Bullitt Fiscal Court to vote on smoking ban ordinance

Publication Date: 2013-12-30

• Author: Bailey Loosemore
• Publication:The Courier-Journal

A proposed ordinance banning smoking in all government buildings would overrule a Board of Health regulation currently pending before the Kentucky Supreme Court, Bullitt County attorney Monica Robinson said.

The ban would not apply to private property or buildings -- unlike the Board of Health ban, which, if approved by the Supreme Court, would outlaw smoking in all public places, including bars and restaurants.

Bullitt Fiscal Court could vote on the proposed ordinance Jan. 7. The ordinance also says all other ordinances, resolutions and administrative regulations inconsistent with it would be repealed. That would include the ban the Bullitt County Board of Health passed in March 2011.

Margaret Miller, attorney for the Board of Health, declined to comment on the ordinance's effects because of the pending lawsuit.

Bullitt Fiscal Court and the eight cities within the county filed the lawsuit, claiming the health administrators did not have the power to enact such restrictions.

Bullitt Circuit Judge Rodney Burress declared the public smoking ban unlawful, but the Kentucky Court of Appeals overturned Burress' ruling in November 2012.

Bullitt County officials then appealed the second decision to the Supreme Court. Oral arguments for the case are yet to be set...