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Effective January 1, 2008, this new NC statute will ban smoking inside all state government buildings and allow NC local governments to do the same, if they choose. (Please note the NC Smoking in Public Places statute contains a local government preemption section, 143-601(b), which is still in effect.)
House Bill 24, Smoking in Government Buildings, AN ACT TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC FROM THE HEALTH RISKS OF SECONDHAND SMOKE BY PROHIBITING SMOKING IN BUILDINGS OWNED, LEASED, OR OCCUPIED BY STATE GOVERNMENT. Primary sponsors of this bill were Rep. Jennifer Weiss (D-Wake) and Rep. Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland). This bill was recommended by the Justus-Warren Heart Disease and Prevention Task Force. The Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch provided resource materials and presentations on the science of secondhand smoke and policy options for the Task Force to take under consideration.
This bill was referred to the House Health Committee. An amended Committee Substitute passed out of the House Health Committee on March 3, 2007 and was sent to the House Floor. Committee Details: Rep. Weiss introduced a Committee Substitute bill that contained language for the following provisions:
- prohibits smoking in buildings owned, leased or occupied by state government,
- provides option for local government to enact regulations to prohibit smoking in buildings owned, leased or occupied by local government, and any place on a public transportation vehicle owned, leased or occupied by local government and used by the public.
- provides any local airport authority the option to prohibit smoking in their facilities.
Dr. Leah Devlin, State Health Director provided testimony to the Committee. Following discussion and debate on the bill, Rep. Glazier introduced an amendment to clarify a debated point in Committee. The amendment states that if state or local government leases space in a privately owned building, such as a strip-mall, then the entire strip-mall is not required to become smoke-free. Only the space that is leased and occupied by state government must prohibit smoking. The amendment also clarifies that within the local government option the same provision applies to leased local government space in a privately owned facility. The amended bill passed on a voice vote of the Committee with only one member voting against the bill.
This bill passed the House Health Committee and was passed by the House (107-4) on March 7, 2007. The bill was then sent to the Senate. The Senate referred the bill to the Committee on Commerce, Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The bill was heard briefly in Senate Committee on April 24, 2007, but not voted upon. The Committee on Commerce, Small Business and Entrepreneurship voted favorably on the bill on June 20, 2007, and the bill was calendared in the Senate.
On June 26, 2007 the Senate voted 49-1 to pass HB 24--Smoking in Government Buildings. Senator Purcell introduced an amendment to make HB24 consistent with language in SB1086 TFS and SB862 Smoke-free UNC. The amendment passed by a vote of 49-1 to amend the effective date to the beginning of the 08-09 academic school year for all UNC universities' resident halls to be smoke-free. Note: there was a provision in SB862 Smoke-free UNC-A, which passed the General Assembly in June 2007 that still allowed universities in the UNC system to permit some smoking in residence halls. Under HB 24, all state government buildings will become smoke-free by Jan. 1, 2008, and university dorms by August 2008. An amendment to allow agencies that lease space in state government buildings to allow smoking in that leased space failed by a vote of 29 "yes" and 20 "no". This same amendment had already failed in Committee.
HB 24 was signed by the Governor on July 8th, 2007.
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