Proposal bans indoor public use, sales to minors
By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer
For more than a decade, Wisconsinites have been banned from smoking inside public establishments, such as restaurants and taverns.
But the smoking ban only extends to tobacco products – like cigarettes and cigars – and does not include electronic cigarettes.
Electronic cigarettes have grown in popularity with multiple communities in Wisconsin adding language to ban these devices much like tobacco products.
The City of Burlington, however, isn’t one of the municipalities with an outright ban on using vaping devices indoors but that could change under a proposal the Common Council plans to consider at an April 6 meeting.
The ordinance change would amend chapters 80 and 128 of the city’s municipal code.
Electronic cigarettes are known by different names, such as e-cigarettes, e-cigs, e-hookahs, mods, juuls, vapes, vape pens, tank systems, among others.
Some communities in the area, including the villages of Union Grove and Caledonia, moved forward with the recommendations in 2019.
“In essence, changes to the ordinance include better definitions and adds specific language giving the city independent authority to address vaping, since current statutes do not venture into that territory,” Burlington Police Chief Mark Anderson wrote in a memorandum.
The changes also include provisions related to selling electronic cigarettes to minors, according to proposed amendments to Chapter 128.
Additionally, the amendment bars children from possessing electronic cigarettes, either through false representation or finding an adult to purchase the device on their behalf.
“Chapter 128 specifically addresses juveniles who are in possession of vaping products,” Anderson said.
To read the full story, see the March 31 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
-
-
-
-
-