Kentuckians will pay with their health if lawmakers force cigar bars on smoke-free communities

by Karma Clara Bryan and Ellen Hahn, Kentucky Lantern
February 26, 2025

House Bill 211 would threaten Kentuckians health by requiring local smoke-free ordinances to allow smoking in cigar bars. HB 211 could undo the dramatic public health protections afforded by the 44 strong smoke-free ordinances in Kentucky.

Smoke-free hospitality venues are popular. Tourists like to breathe smoke-free air. 

Kentucky has a long history of yielding authority to local municipalities. The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled local governments have the right and the responsibility to protect the public health by regulating smoking inside workplaces and buildings open to the public. Since 2003, 44 communities from Prestonsburg to Paducah have chosen to prohibit indoor smoking, including cigar smoking, equally in all establishments. HB 211 would leave local government powerless to regulate cigar and pipe tobacco smoking in hospitality venues.

Once cigar bars are exempt, there is nothing to stop other bars, hospitality venues or tobacco retailers from becoming cigar bars. In communities that allow indoor cigar smoking, youth and young adults may perceive that it is socially acceptable to use cigars and pipe tobacco, and they may get the false impression that cigars or pipes are safer or a status symbol.

If HB 211 becomes law, Kentuckians will pay more and suffer more from lung cancer, preterm births, emphysema, heart attacks, asthma  and youth smoking. The science is clear. Cigar and pipe smoke contain the same toxic chemicals found in cigarette smoke, including those that cause cancer. Strong smoke-free laws save lives and money by lowering smoking and saving health care costs. Smoke-free laws that exempt certain businesses, like cigar bars, do not confer these same benefits.

If a community with a smoke-free law wants to allow smoking in cigar bars, they already have the authority to do so. HB 211 takes away local communities’ ability to choose what’s best for their families and neighbors. It undermines home rule. It makes sense to leave local smoke-free laws up to local officials.

HB 211 would wipe away all the progress we have made in smoke-free protections in the state, plunging us from nearly 40% covered with strong smoke-free protections to 0%. 

This commentary also was signed by Lisa Maggio, PhD, RN, Lexington; Karma Clara Bryan, RN, PhD, Lexington; Alison Connell, Rockcastle County; Audrey Darville, PhD, APRN, CPAHA-Tobacco Treatment, Danville; Carol Riker, RN, MSN, Lexington.

They are members of Nurses who Stand Up for Health, made up of nurse practitioners, school nurse leaders, environmental health researchers and health policy experts, representing both political parties.

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

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