Legislation would prohibit use of e-cigarettes in restaurants

Publication Date: 2016-01-25

• Author:JOHN REID BLACKWELL
• Publication:Richmond Times-Dispatch

State lawmakers will tackle at least one proposal during this General Assembly session to restrict the use of electronic cigarettes in some public places such as restaurants.

Smoking conventional cigarettes has been prohibited inside Virginia restaurants since 2009, with an exception for eateries that allow smoking only in separately enclosed and ventilated rooms.

A bill introduced by Sen. John C. Miller, D-Newport News, would expand that prohibition to include electronic cigarettes, the battery-powered devices that some smokers use as an alternative to conventional cigarettes.

Miller’s bill, which has been referred to the Senate committee on local government, seeks to broaden the definition of “smoking” in the Virginia Indoor Clean Air Act to include e-cigarettes, also known as vapor products...