On Oct. 1, 2018, Alaska businesses will be required to put up signs like this available from the State of Alaska to indicate that workplaces are now smoke-free. (Image provided, State of Alaska)

On Oct. 1, 2018, Alaska businesses will be required to put up signs like this available from the State of Alaska to indicate that workplaces are now smoke-free. (Image provided, State of Alaska)

Smokefree workplace law takes effect Oct. 1

As of today, workers and customers of Alaska businesses who smoke or vape will have to take it outside — at least 10 feet away.

A law passed by the Alaska Legislature last spring and signed into law in June by Gov. Bill Walker takes effect Monday. With a few exceptions, all smoking, including vaping or e-cigarettes, is prohibited in places where people shop, eat, drink and work. The law also limits smoking 10- to 20-feet from entrances or a set distance away from intakes for ventilation systems.

Under the new law, smoking is prohibited in any enclosed space in these areas:

• An entertainment venue or sports arena;

• On a bus, taxicab, ferry or other vehicle used for public transportation;

• At a public transit depot, bus shelter or airport terminal;

• At a retail store or shopping center;

• At a place of government or public assembly operated by the state or a muncipality;

• In an office building, office, hotel, motel, restaurant and bar;

• In a common area of an apartment building or multi-family dwelling;

• In a place of employment, including a vehicle;

• At a public or private educational facility;

• At a health-care facility, including residential units;

• In a building or home used to provide child care, even if children aren’t present;

• On a vessel operating as a shore-based fisheries business;

• Outdoors within 10 feet of playground equipment at a public or private school or public park where children are present;

• Outdoors at a place of employment or health-care facility that has declared the entire campus or grounds to be smoke-free;

• Outdoors within 10 feet of an entrance to a bar or restaurant; and

• Outdoors within 20 feet of an entrance, open window or heating or ventilation system intake.

However, smoking is allowed at a retail tobacco or e-cigarette store in a building that is freestanding or, if attached to another building, does not allow smoke to travel into other businesses. Smoking also is allowed in a stand-alone shelter if food or drink is not served and the building is set away from entrances to other buildings. Individuals also may smoke at a private club that has been at the same location since Jan. 1, 2017, and if the club is not licensed to serve alcohol or is not a place of employment.

For the Homer maritime community, smoking also is allowed on a commercial fishing vessel or on a boat used for sport charter fishing.

The law requires businesses to post “no smoking” or “no puffin” signs — an Alaska version with a slash through a cartoon of a puffin smoking.

Kharacters, one of Homer’s last two public bars to allow smoking, will go smoke free on Oct. 1. The Down East Saloon went made the change in July. Kharacters plans to close in an outside porch to be a smoking room.

“A lot of people are thrilled, a lot of people are not thrilled,” said Megan Anderson, a Kharacters employee. “I’m looking at it as a great opportunity to quit smoking because I’m not going to be working in a smoky bar.”

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services will send out mailers soon to businesses explaining the new no-smoking law, said Sara Clark, deputy program manager for tobacco prevention and control at the Alaska Division of Public Health.

“It addresses the transitions for having a smoke-free worksplace,” she said.

A website, smokefree.alaska.gov, also will have a “frequently asked questions” page, a link to the new law and downloads of signs that can be printed out and displayed. For those wishing to quit using tobacco, the website also has a link for Alaska’s Tobacco Quit Line.

Clark said the new law is a minimum standard for making businesses smoke-free.

“Businesses can, if they want to, and some of them do, put stronger protections in place,” she said.

Reach Michael Armstrong at marmstrong@homernews.com.

On Oct. 1, 2018, Alaska businesses will be required to put up signs like this available from the State of Alaska to indicate that workplaces are now smoke-free. (Image provided, State of Alaska)

On Oct. 1, 2018, Alaska businesses will be required to put up signs like this available from the State of Alaska to indicate that workplaces are now smoke-free. (Image provided, State of Alaska)

More in News

Kenai River Brown Bears goalie Nils Wallstrom celebrates winning a shootout over the Fairbanks Ice Dogs on Saturday, March 25, 2023, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Brown Bears sweep Ice Dogs, move into 3rd place

The Kenai River Brown Bears earned a two-game sweep over the Fairbanks… Continue reading

The waters of Cook Inlet lap against Nikishka Beach in Nikiski, Alaska, where several local fish sites are located, on Friday, March 24, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Unprecedented closures threaten setnet way of life

Setnetters have been vocal about their opposition to the way their fishery is managed

Legislative fiscal analysts Alexei Painter, right, and Conor Bell explain the state’s financial outlook during the next decade to the Senate Finance Committee on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Legislators eye oil and sales taxes due to fiscal woes

Bills to collect more from North Slope producers, enact new sales taxes get hearings next week.

Expert skateboarder Di’Orr Greenwood, an artist born and raised in the Navajo Nation in Arizona and whose work is featured on the new U.S. stamps, rides her skateboard next to her artworks in the Venice Beach neighborhood in Los Angeles Monday, March 20, 2023. On Friday, March 24, the U.S. Postal Service is debuting the “Art of the Skateboard,” four stamps that will be the first to pay tribute to skateboarding. The stamps underscore how prevalent skateboarding has become, especially in Indian Country, where the demand for designated skate spots has only grown in recent years. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Indigenous artists help skateboarding earn stamp of approval

The postal agency ceremoniously unveiled the “Art of the Skateboard” stamps in a Phoenix skate park

Bruce Jaffa, of Jaffa Construction, speaks to a group of students at Seward High School’s Career Day on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at Seward High School in Seward, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward students talk careers at fair

More than 50 businesses were represented

Alaska state Sen. Bert Stedman, center, a co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, listens to a presentation on the major North Slope oil project known as the Willow project on Thursday, March 23, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. The committee heard an update on the project from the state Department of Natural Resources and the state Department of Revenue. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)
Official: Willow oil project holds promise, faces obstacles

State tax officials on Thursday provided lawmakers an analysis of potential revenue impacts and benefits from the project

Jerry Burnett, chair of the Board of Game, speaks during their Southcentral meeting on Friday, March 17, 2023, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Board of Game decides on local proposals

Trapping setbacks, archery hunts and duck restrictions were up for consideration

Audre Hickey testifies in opposition to an ordinance that would implement a citywide lewdness prohibition in Soldotna during a city council meeting on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna council kills citywide lewdness ordinance

The decision followed lengthy public comment

Samantha Springer, left, and Michelle Walker stand in the lobby of the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Springer named new head of Kenai chamber

Springer, who was raised in Anchorage, said she’s lived on the Kenai Peninsula since 2021

Most Read