AG Schmidt proposes Clean Indoor Air Act cover public indoor vaping

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TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) -- Kansas' Attorney General says a state law that regulates smoking in public places should also include vaping.

Derek Schmidt said he will ask lawmakers to add e-cigarettes to the definition of "smoking" that is covered by the Clean Indoor Air Act.

Schmidt says vaping wasn't thought about when the original act passed in 2010, and that the proposal from his office would close a legal loophole.

He also noted the sharp increase in nicotine addiction through youth vaping that has been documented in recent years; more than one-fourth of high school students, many of whom were never smokers, are now estimated to vape.

Schmidt says his office has no logical reason to protect indoor vaping where smoking is prohibited, citing medical reports that suggest second hand vaping particles can be harmful to people who breathe them in.

As of October, at least 19 states and two territories prohibit use of e-cigarettes in places that are designated 100% smoke-free.

In Kansas, the Clean Indoor Air Act as currently written applies only to combustible tobacco, not to e-cigarettes, as explained in a 2011 Attorney General's Opinion.