Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Smoke Free Daycare Bill Introduced

Omaha Senator Rick Kolowski recently introduced LB 630, a bill that would make all daycares smoke free.

Mark Welsch is the President of GASP, the Group to Alleviate Smoking Pollution. 

He says the bill would require all indoor places in an in-home daycare, as well as the vehicles used for in-home daycare, to be smoke free. 

Currently, Nebraska law allows smoking in in-home daycares. 

Depending on the age of the home, Welsch says fresh tobacco smoke may take between four and twenty-four hours to fully dissipate. 

He says the other danger is the secondhand smoke which attaches itself to every surface and object in the home. 

"Most people think that daycares should not be allowed to maintain a toxic environment that no other business in Nebraska can have for their employees and the public.  There needs to be a clear law that protects children’s health from secondhand smoke in all daycares and LB 630 is that law.”

Welsch says the state should have a higher level of protection for the health of children than it does for adults. 

LB 630 was assigned to the legislature’s health and human services committee last week.