CHARLESTON – The Senate Health Committee approved on Jan. 17 a bill banning the use of e-cigarettes in schools.
SB 136 gives a 12-line definition of what e-cigarettes are and adds them to the list already in code of tobacco products prohibited on school campuses.
Existing code has exemptions from the ban, and e-cigarettes are included in those exemptions: faculty and staff lounges or faculty offices, if they are not used for instructional purposes and are not accessible to students.
Code also allows county school boards to make more restrictive rules.
Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone and a physician and former committee chair, commended the bill sponsors. He said about 4 million students under 18 are now vaping, and recent studies show that vaping may be harmful, stemming from the heating of glycerol, one of the base chemicals in vaping fluid.
The bill passed unanimously with no debate and heads to Judiciary for further consideration.
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