SB 7012: Vaping

Full Details from the Florida Legislature

In the 2018 statewide election, Floridians voted to prohibit vaping in enclosed indoor workplaces through Amendment 9. Senate Bill 7012 essentially adds vaping to the current prohibition against smoking in enclosed indoor workplaces and defines vaping, vapor, vapor generating electronic devices, and vapor-generating electronic device retail tobacco shops. This bill has been added to the Glover Law Alcohol Legislation Tracker due to its potential impact on standalone bars that allow smoking inside the location.

Importantly, SB 7012 permits vaping at the same locations authorized to permit tobacco smoking in standalone bars, private residences whenever not being used for certain commercial purposes, designated rooms in hotels and other public lodging establishments, retail tobacco shops, facilities owner or leased by a membership association, smoking cessation programs, medical or scientific research, and customs smoking rooms in airport in-transit lounges subject to certain rules and regulations.

Section 14 of the bill amends section 561.695 of the Florida Statutes to lay out requirements, enforcement and penalties for stand-alone bars that allow vaping. Should the bill become law, persons in charge of enclosed indoor workplaces would be required to develop and implement policies regarding vaping and smoking prohibitions and post signs. The civil penalties in place for smoking in enclosed workplaces would be applied to vaping, though the bill does not preclude the adoption of municipal or county ordinances that impose more restrictive regulations.

Please note that this summary is based on the initially filed version of the bill. Click the Full Details link for updates on amendments, votes, etc.