Though the city of Mission may not be prepared to join Prairie Village and other Johnson County cities in enacting the tobacco and e-cigarette sales restrictions supported by the Tobacco 21 initiative, the city appears poised to ban public e-cigarette use effective later this summer.
The city council had initially considered the idea to add e-cigarettes to its public smoking ban last month. On Wednesday, the city’s Finance and Administration Committee agreed to forward the proposal to the City Council for final vote on the condition that the effective date for the change be set for August 1. Typically, new ordinances go into effect the day they are published by the city. Delaying implementation of the new e-cigarette public use ban will give the city the chance to communicate the change to the bars and restaurants most likely to be affected, said City Administrator Laura Smith.
“That gives us the opportunity to educated and inform the businesses that we’ve made this change,” she said.
Mission passed a comprehensive public smoking ban in 2008 that disallowed use of smokeable tobacco products in restaurants and work zones.