The Flagstaff City Council will vote tonight to expand its law banning tobacco use in public places to include electronic cigarettes.
The vaping ban unanimously passed a procedural vote last week, and approval at tonight’s meeting would finalize it, effective January 10th.
Flagstaff Councilman Jim McCarthy says the city’s smoking ban is in need of updating, since e-cigarettes didn’t exist when the ban was enstated in 2005.
“To me that’s just the technical clean-up of the law because to me it seems obvious that vaping and smoking are basically the same thing,” he says.
If adopted, the ordinance would cover smoking or vaping in any public place or workplace.
McCarthy says the council may soon also vote on an ordinance that would make Flagstaff the fourth city in Arizona to raise the age to purchase tobacco products to 21, joining Cottonwood, Douglas and Tucson.
