HB1040: HB1040 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) bars smoking inside state and local government buildings and inside most enclosed public places, but says nothing about the space just outside their doors. This bill would extend that ban to a 25 foot buffer zone around those buildings and around enclosed public places generally, so smokers could no longer light up right next to an entrance. The bill also rewrites the law's exemptions list. It removes exemptions that previously let long term care facilities, certain hospital rooms with a doctor's written authorization, private convention meeting rooms, and appointment only private offices allow smoking, marking those exemption slots as 'Reserved' instead. Exemptions that remain include private residences, designated hotel smoking rooms, retail tobacco stores, certain bars and restaurants, tobacco industry workplaces, and private clubs. Conflicting laws would be repealed.

• Bans smoking not just inside but within a 25 foot radius of buildings owned or operated by the state, its agencies, or local governments (O.C.G.A. § 31-12A-3).
• Bans smoking within a 25 foot radius of enclosed public places statewide, not just inside them (O.C.G.A. § 31-12A-4).
• Eliminates the prior exemption allowing smoking in long-term care facilities by marking that exemption category as 'Reserved'.
• Eliminates the prior exemption for hospital rooms where a treating physician had authorized a patient to smoke.
• Eliminates the prior exemption for convention facility meeting rooms and private assembly rooms used for private functions.
• Eliminates the prior exemption for appointment-only private offices and common work areas in private places of employment.

Employees and visitors at state and local government buildings, patrons and staff of enclosed public places such as offices and businesses, hospitals and long-term care facilities that previously allowed designated smoking, convention centers, and private employers who ran appointment-only offices with smoking areas.

People who smoke outside government buildings or public places would have to move farther away, and some workplaces and health care facilities that previously permitted limited smoking indoors would no longer be allowed to do so, changing daily practice for staff, patients, and visitors.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 31-12A-3 to prohibit smoking within a 25 foot radius of, as well as inside, state and local government buildings.
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 31-12A-4 to prohibit smoking within a 25 foot radius of, as well as inside, enclosed public places.
• Section 3 revises the exemptions in O.C.G.A. § 31-12A-6(a), removing the exemptions for long-term care facilities, physician-authorized hospital smoking rooms, certain convention meeting rooms, and appointment-only private offices, replacing each with 'Reserved.'
• Section 3 keeps exemptions for private residences, designated hotel/motel smoking rooms (capped at 20 percent of rooms), retail tobacco stores, tobacco industry workplaces, certain bars and restaurants, employer-designated outdoor smoking areas meeting ventilation requirements, and private and military clubs.
• Section 4 repeals all laws in conflict with the Act.

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 smoking rules