1999: State bans smoking at indoor dining areas.

2001: Legislature adopts bill to encourage hospitals to eliminate smoking from their campuses, which has been implemented by nearly all hospitals in the state.

2003: State bans smoking in bars.

2004: Healthy Horizons, a health advocacy group funded by tobacco settlement money, encourages towns to adopt rules banning smoking on municipal property. Brunswick, China, Fairfield, Oakland, Portland and Skowhegan are among those to pass resolutions.

2004: Auburn’s public housing authority becomes the first housing authority in Maine to institute a ban. All 24 housing authorities have since followed suit, with the last taking effect in 2012. Future housing projects funded by public dollars must also be smoke-free.

2006: Kennebec Valley Community College becomes the first college in the Maine Community College System to ban smoking.

Advertisement

2006: Augusta passes resolution advising people not to smoke in city parks, but with no enforcement provision.

2007: Bangor bans smoking in cars that have children younger than 18 as passengers.

2007: Legislature passes bill banning tobacco from school buildings and grounds at all times, not just when school is in session.

2008: State bans smoking in cars that have children younger than 16 as passengers.

2009: State law prohibits smoking in outdoor eating areas owned by restaurants.

2011: State law requires landlords to inform tenants in multi-unit apartments whether smoking is allowed on the property.

Advertisement

2011: Augusta bans smoking in all city parks.

2012: Smoking ban on the University of Maine at Orono campus takes effect.

2012: Augusta bans smoking at school bus stops, except those at which only one family is present.

2012: The six remaining University of Maine campuses makes provisions to join the main campus and become smoke-free. Those bans go into effect throughout 2012 and 2103, the most recent at the University of Maine at Augusta, which became smoke-free Monday.

2013:

May: Gov. Paul LePage vetoes a bill that would have prohibited smoking on all of Maine’s public university and college community campuses. The veto was sustained.

June: Coffee retailer Starbucks banned smoking within 25 feet of all of its 7,000 locations, including 24 in Maine.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.