COLORADO- Governor Jared Polis is in the process of approving or deciding if he’ll veto bills making it to his desk.
With the legislative session ending last week, it’s up to Polis to decide if a couple of bills related to smoking laws in the state will become law.
One of those laws updates the “Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act,” by adding vaping and e-cigarettes to what’s banned in restaurants, workplaces, and stores.
Another would create licensing for “Marijuana Hospitality Establishments”.
The bill relating to vaping indoors is something Children’s Hospital Colorado believes would help relieve an epidemic of teen usage.
“Those kiddos who start with e-cigarettes are 4 times more likely to then eventually start smoking traditional cigarettes and potentially becoming lifetime tobacco users because they get addicted, the get hooked on the very same nicotine,” said Zach Zaslow, Senior Dir. of Government Affairs at Children’s Hospital Colorado.
The Clean Indoor Air Act would also increase the distance of where people can smoke outside of places from 15 to 25 ft., although it would depend on what local governments decide.
