HB 1040: Health; prohibit smoking within a 25 foot radius of any state and local government buildings or enclosed public places

Georgia's current smoke-free air law (O.C.G.A. Chapter 12A of Title 31) bans smoking inside government buildings and enclosed public places but does not restrict smoking just outside their doors. This substitute to HB 1040 would add a 25 foot no-smoking buffer around those buildings, meaning people could no longer light up right at the entrance. The bill also strips out several exemptions that previously let smoking continue in certain enclosed workplaces. Long-term care facilities, private and semiprivate hospital rooms with a doctor's written permission, certain convention meeting rooms, and common work areas or private offices in workplaces open to the public by appointment would no longer be exempt from the smoking ban; those provisions are marked 'Reserved,' effectively removing them. A small wording fix changes 'health care' to 'healthcare' in the private residence exemption. The bill repeals conflicting laws but does not state a separate effective date beyond standard enactment.

• Adds a 25 foot no-smoking radius around state and local government buildings, on top of the existing indoor ban.
• Adds the same 25 foot no-smoking radius around enclosed public places statewide.
• Removes the exemption that allowed smoking in long-term care facilities as defined under O.C.G.A. § 31-8-81.
• Removes the exemption for private and semiprivate hospital rooms where a treating physician had authorized smoking.
• Removes the exemption for certain convention facility meeting and assembly rooms used for private functions.
• Removes the exemption for common work areas, conference rooms, and private offices in appointment-only private workplaces.

State and local government employees and visitors, owners and patrons of bars, restaurants, and retail tobacco stores, operators of long-term care facilities and hospitals, convention facility managers, and private employers who previously relied on workplace smoking area exemptions.

People who smoke near government building entrances or certain workplaces would have to move at least 25 feet away, and several settings that previously allowed indoor smoking, like long-term care facilities and hospital rooms with doctor approval, would no longer be permitted to do so.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 31-12A-3 to prohibit smoking within a 25 foot radius of state and local government buildings, not just inside them.
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 31-12A-4 to prohibit smoking within a 25 foot radius of enclosed public places statewide.
• Section 3 revises the exemptions list in O.C.G.A. § 31-12A-6(a), marking long-term care facilities, certain hospital rooms, some convention meeting rooms, and appointment-only private workplace common areas as 'Reserved,' removing their exempt status.
• Section 3 also tightens the employer-designated smoking area exemption by clarifying it does not apply to bars and restaurants.
• Section 4 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-02-25House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2. 2026-01-29House Second Readers (House)
3. 2026-01-28House First Readers (House)
4. 2026-01-27House Hopper (House)

• Michelle Au (D, HD-050)Primary sponsor
• Debbie Buckner (D, HD-137)
• Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)
• Imani Barnes (D, HD-086)
• Debra Bazemore (D, HD-069)

• smoking ban
• public health
• government buildings
• workplace regulations