Montana hearing draws youth and health groups urging lawmakers to add e-cigarettes to Clean Indoor Air Act

Senator Willis Kurdy, sponsor of Senate Bill 390, told the House Health and Human Services Committee that the bill would revise Montana's Clean Indoor Air Act to include ‘‘electronic smoking devices’’ and remove loopholes that allow vaping indoors. ‘‘Today I bring to you Senate Bill 390, a bill that revises the definition of smoking in the Clean Indoor Air Act and provides for a definition of electronic smoking device,’’ he said.

Dozens of largely student proponents described vaping as a daily reality in school restrooms and other public places and urged lawmakers to act. ‘‘By not including e-cigarettes, we might accidentally push the idea that e-cigarettes are safer than combustible cigarettes,’’ said Natalie Bohrer, a 16-year-old sophomore from Powell County High School, who testified in…