COLORADO GOES SMOKEFREE—CoPIRG Director Rex Wilmouth celebrates the passage of the Clean Indoor Air Act with Sen. Dan Grossman, co-sponsor of the legislation for smokefree workplaces.

Victory For Smokefree Colorado

In a victory for public health, the Colorado House and Senate approved the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act, which bans smoking in restaurants and bars. CoPIRG and its allies in the Smokefree Colorado coalition celebrated the culmination of three years of advocacy and education towards smokefree workplaces.

On March 27, Gov. Owens signed the bill into law. The new rules will take effect July 1.

“This is a major victory for the people of Colorado,” said Rex Wilmouth, director of CoPIRG. “It’s a big day for the people of Colorado, given 80 percent of the population does not smoke. They can now go in restaurants and bars and breathe clean air.”

A 2005 American Cancer Society poll showed that 66 percent of Coloradans support the ban. Second-hand smoke is responsible for 53,000 deaths annually among adult nonsmokers in the U.S.

After nearly succeeding last year, the Smokefree Colorado coalition got a final boost when the Colorado Restaurant Association joined the coalition, recognizing the danger secondhand smoke poses to employees.

A Tough Fight
The bill took a long and bumpy road. As originally passed by the House the ban only excluded casinos and small businesses with no public access.

The Senate then gutted the bill, adding exemptions for bars, private clubs, bingo halls and dog tracks. It took a conference committee composed of three members from each house to put the bill back into the form passed by the House of Representatives.