News
Complaints down, support up for Nebraska smoking ban
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Lincoln Journal-Star
The Nebraska Health and Human Services Department has received more than 390 indoor smoking complaints against 270 businesses since the state's 2009 ban took effect, officials said.
The most complaints, 129, came that year. There were 27 in 2013, the department said in a news release timed to the fifth anniversary of the ban.
Omaha pool hall Big John’s Billiards, which has challenged the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act's exemptions in court, openly defied the ban last fall by encouraging its patrons to light up.
Statewide, the ban remains popular among Nebraskans -- smokers and non-smokers alike, HHS said.
About 86 percent of Nebraskans support it, according to the Nebraska Adult Tobacco Survey, and there is rising support among smokers.
