Electronic cigarette use will no longer be permitted in most indoor settings in the U.S. state of Nebraska.
Starting Nov. 14, the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act will be expanded to prohibit the use of electronic cigarettes in enclosed workspaces with only a minimal case for exceptions.
Office building, manufacturing facilities, stores, restaurants, bars, and other indoor settings are off-limits for vapers, per the passage of Legislative Bill 840.
One of the only legal exemptions for indoor vaping include retailers of vape products and devices, other specialty establishments that sell similar products like craft tobacconists.
Sarah Linden, of Generation V E-Cigarettes & Vape Bar, told Nebraska’s National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate that she is grateful to have lobbied the state legislature to include vape shops and other retail outlets in the exemption via the implementation of the law.
“We find that smokers have a much easier time quitting smoking and making the switch to vaping if they have flavors that they really enjoy,” she said to NPR, via NET News.
“And so we want it to be able to allow flavor sampling in our stores,” Linden said.
The state government is also keen that the change in the law will be a beneficial element to improving public health.
“This change is about protecting Nebraskans from exposure to secondhand aerosol from e-cigarettes. It is also a great time to try, or retry, quitting e-cigarettes or tobacco,” said Amanda Mortensen, Program Manager for Tobacco Free Nebraska under the state’s Department of Health and Human Services.
Mortensen offered comments to the online outlet for NBC 2 Nebraska, based in Lincoln’s capital city.
Legislative Bill 840 passed the unicameral state legislature on an overwhelming 31 to 2 vote in favor of the indoor prohibition on vaping.
A legislative committee authored the vape shop exemption through collaboration with the local vaping industry.
This is a developing story.
