Stories

The Iowa Department of Public Health today released sweeping smoking ban draft rules that more clearly define the boundaries of the recently passed statewide indoor snuff out and outline enforcement.

One of the primary arguments for complete indoor smoking bans is that employees of restaurants and bars that permit smoking are at risk for the effects of secondhand smoke.

That fails to take into account the obvious fact that millions of employees smoke themselves and may desire to work in a place where they can do [...]

As Iowa bureaucrats work feverishly to place of the long arm of government into private businesses with a statewide smoking ban set to take effect on July 1, it is time to examine ways to deal with what will be a radical cultural change in many shot-and-a-beer, small-town taverns that dot the Iowa landscape.

Ever wondered about the intricacies of legislating on Iowa’s capitol hill?  We talked to Rep. Tyler Olson, D-Cedar Rapids about them in the context of the bill to ban smoking in public places, which he floor-managed.

Bar and restaurant owners in the rural Western Iowa town of Carroll are frustrated by legislation  passed by the Iowa House late Tuesday that would ban smoking in public places statewide.  They said the bill’s exemption for casinos and private clubs puts their businesses at a major disadvantage.

What’s more, Kerp’s Tavern co-owner Mardy Badding and [...]

Farmers whose operations are incorporated would be banned from using cigarettes on their own property under a provision of the proposed smoking ban, according to an analysis of the bill prepared by the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency.

House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, promised Thursday that his party will attempt to win an exemption for [...]

While the Iowa House Commerce Committee has passed a statewide smoking ban (which exempts casinos and veterans halls), key legislative observers and advocates on the issue expect a competing local-control bill to have the best chance of becoming Iowa law.

A local-control bill had been scheduled to come up in the House Human Resources Committee today, [...]