The Vermont Senate will consider a bill next week that bans all smoking in the workplace.
Vermont restricted second-hand smoke on the job in 1987 – one of the first states to do so – but advocates say the law has loopholes that allow smoking under certain circumstances.
The coordinator of the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Vermont Tina Zuk says the current law allows employers to have indoor smoking rooms, which she says is unfair to nonsmoking workers.
The new bill, which is expected to win broad support, would prohibit that.
Since Vermont passed its law more than 20 years ago, she says 23 other states have passed stricter restrictions.