Cook County
Dept. of Public Health
1010 Lake St. Suite 104, Oak Park, IL 60301-1133
708-492-2000
708-492-2002 TDD
708-492-2900 fax
Stephen A. Martin Jr., Ph.D., M.P.H.
Chief Operating Officer CCDPH
Support HB672:
Clean Indoor Air Act
House Bill 672 has passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly. Please write to Governor Blagojevich (Office of the Governor, 207 State House, Springfield, IL 62706) and ask him to sign this important public health legislation.
Current Illinois law prohibits any unit of local government from adopting tobacco ordinances stronger than those of the state, unless local ordinance was passed before state ordinance.
Even though state law fails to do so, local officials cannot protect their residents from the deadly effects of secondhand smoke.
Local municipalities should be permitted to address the known health risks of secondhand smoke, and if they choose, to enact protective clean indoor air laws.
Proposed legislation does not require municipalities to do anything; rather, it gives them the right to restrict smoking in indoor public places and workplaces.
Several states allow for local action, including New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin and California.
Since California enacted their statewide law more than 10 years ago, lung cancer, heart disease and adult smoking have declined more than in any other state in the country.
