Illinois indoor vaping ban starts on New Year’s Day

Illinois’ New Year’s resolution starts with banning vaping indoors, and $100 fines for anyone who violates the law.

Illinois is starting 2024 by banning indoor vaping in public places, including $100 tickets for those who violate the law even once.

Lawmakers amended the Smoke Free Act of 2008, which banned smoking in public places, to include e-cigarettes. “Public places” includes privately owned properties such as bars and restaurants.

The law comes with $100 fines for the first offense and $250 fines after that. Likewise, business owners caught violating the law can face $250 fines for violating the law on the first offense, $500 on the second offense and $2,500 on any subsequent offense if within one year of the first offense.

As of March 2023, 17 other states have banned indoor vaping, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Illinois, 30 cities had previously banned indoor e-cigarette use, but the new law makes it statewide.

Illinois has over 150 new laws taking effect in 2024, with the vaping ban starting on New Year’s Day. When Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the law in June, he said it will come with public health benefits.

“Illinoisans deserve to enjoy public spaces without being exposed unwillingly to secondhand vapor and other electronic cigarette byproducts,” Pritzker said. “Now, e-cigarettes and vapes will qualify under existing anti-smoking laws, reducing air pollution and making a more accessible, healthy Illinois.”

If quitting e-cigarettes was one of your New Year’s resolutions, Illinois wants to help you along – or take your $100 if you are in the wrong place when you fail to keep it.