Limited State Progress in Regulating Secondhand Tobacco Smoke

Abstract

From 1990 to 2005, U.S. state legislation on secondhand tobacco smoke significantly increased in eight public areas: general public areas, government buildings, private workplaces, schools, child care facilities, health care facilities, restaurants, and bars. Despite the U.S. Surgeon General's proclaiming in 2006 that “rapid progress” is being made in state legislation on clean indoor air, vigorous state smoke-free secondhand tobacco smoke legislation in six public area categories was minimal, which has favored the policy agenda of the corporate tobacco lobby. Two exceptions include smoke-free legislation for child care facilities and schools. While public interest group health advocates have traditionally used insider lobbying of public officials in the “halls of power” to pass smoke-free legislation, this should be supplemented with astute outsider advocacy tactics such as public demonstrations or issue advertisements to increase the likelihood of passage of more state-level smoke-free legislation.