As the chief author of the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act, I have been dealing with this subject for about 30 years and have spoken about it at various places in the country and even in the world. (International conference on health etc.) The first effect is that smokers smoke less when it is more difficult for them. Even having to go to a different room makes a difference. The original act never had an enforcement budget associated with it. People's inclination to obey the law and common courtesy worked to get us the level of clean indoor air we now enjoy. On the issue of smokers messing up the entrance to a building, the building management can (and should) ban smoking at the entrance. Incidently, last year we made cigarette butts an explicit form of litter and dropping one is a petty misdemeanor. I would love to see some police enforcement of this even if only as a budget enhancement issue. And for any doubts about the validity of this as an environmental issue, we have photos of garbage bags of butt picked up from the banks of the Mississippi. There is a possible compromise on smoking designation. I introduced a bill (HF 1451) that says that designated smoking areas must meet standards for smoke containment that essentially require no contamination of non smoking areas. There was also a section establishing employee rights to avoid smoke. I must admit that when presented with this alternative, all smoking was banned in State buildings. I will also state that I prefer the cleaner up-front option of the proposed ban .
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