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House expands Indoor Clean Air Act to include e-cigarettes and hookah in public places; substitute passes after lengthy debate
Summary
After extended floor debate over public health and small-business exemptions, the House passed a substitute to HB 245 to bring heated tobacco, hookah and e-cigarette use under the Indoor Clean Air Act by a 42-31 vote; substitute language and multiple motions on exemptions were considered and several failed.
The Utah House on Feb. 20 passed a third substitute to House Bill 245, which changes the definition of "smoking" in the Indoor Clean Air Act to cover heated tobacco products, hookah and e-cigarette use in public indoor spaces. The substitute passed on a 42-31 roll call.
Representative Rebecca Last, sponsor of the measure, described efforts to bring the statute up to date with newer products and said the bill is focused on the Clean Indoor Air Act, not a prohibition on individual choices. "This bill's really about the Clean Indoor Air Act," she said, describing options and amendments to include hookah and e-cigarettes in public places and to ensure consistent enforcement language.
Floor debate covered competing public-health and small-business concerns. Supporters argued that indoor vapor and hookah use places bystanders at risk of exposure and that public places should be protected. Representative Last said that if the Legislature did not act, local governments and public-transportation entities might have inconsistent rules.
Opponents emphasized the financial and operational consequences for small, destination businesses that rely on hookah or e-cigarette sampling as part of their business model. Representative Dowdy and other members proposed substitute language to provide conditional exemptions for businesses that demonstrate a defined percentage of revenue from those products; substitute motions to exempt or delay the statute were debated, and several failed on the floor before the third substitute passed.
One floor amendment changed a phrase in the bill's compliance language from "extinguish the tobacco product" to "stop smoking" to align terminology with the revised definitions. The House also considered multiple substitute versions (fourth and fifth substitutes) that would have created more explicit business exemptions or delayed effective dates; several of those substitute motions failed after roll-call votes and divisions.
The third substitute passed 42-31 and the bill will be transmitted to the Senate for further consideration.
What's next: The House-passed third substitute of HB 245 is forwarded to the Senate; sponsors signaled intent to revisit sunset/exemption language in the future if needed.
