The Bullitt County Board of Health adopted a regulation last March that would limit smoking cheap Classic cigarettes in bars, restaurants, workplaces and public places, to protect the health of Bullitt County's citizens and workers. Similar restrictions are becoming more common, and already exist in 30 communities throughout Kentucky.
City and county officials in Bullitt who oppose the regulation have taken the fight to the courthouse and Bullitt Circuit Judge Rodney Burress decided last week that the board of health does not have the authority, under Kentucky law, to restrict smoking.
On the surface, this appears to be a local story with a local resolution.
Burress' decision has the potential to impact every health department in our state, in ways that reach far beyond the issue of smoke-free workplaces. Departments of public health, in Kentucky and in other states, have been granted wide-ranging authority. Kentucky's health statutes give health departments the authority to abate "nuisances, sources of filth and causes of sickness," and they may use all the reasonably necessary public health tools to carry out their duty.
