URGENT! Cattaraugus County, NY Call to Action

[kristin]

Local Law Number 16 - A LOCAL LAW REGULATING ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES ("E-CIGARETTES") AND HERBAL CIGARETTESThe purpose of this law is "to prohibit the smoking of e-cigarettes, herbal cigarettes, and like products in public places where traditional forms of smoking are already disallowed and to ban the sale of such products to persons under the age of eighteen (18)."

Link: http://ww2.cattco.org/files/meetings/minutes/leg-minutes-20111122.pdf (begins on page 26)

This law would:
Ban the use of electronic cigarettes in any public place where smoking is disallowed. Ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.

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There will be a public hearing held on the proposed local law by this County Legislature on the 14th day of December, at 3:01 p.m. at the Legislature's Chambers, County Office Building, 303 Court Street, Little Valley, New York

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[soundasleep]

Heya Kristin

I know I'm being overly pedantic, but the way the law is written wouldn't prevent e-cig usage since its not possible to smoke one

I know that's not how THEY see it...just saying.

 

[kristin]

I agree it's poorly written, but they do state:

"To “smoke” ecigarettes, users inhale vaporized liquid nicotine created by heat through an electronic ignition system. "

They apparently rely on this definition of "to smoke" to prohibit the e-cigarette version of "smoking" of e-cigarettes in public places. As they did not insert a new legal definition of "smoking" to include e-cigarette use, I'm not sure if this couldn't be easily challenged in court.

However, business establishments should be challenging this right now, because they would be the ones held liable. Since, unlike tobacco smoking, e-cigarette use is easily hidden, it could be nearly impossible for them to enforce. If I were a business owner, I would be asking how I'm to police something I can neither see nor smell and doesn't leave behind any evidence (such as ash and butts.)