A Tobacco Control Policy & Legal Resource Center
Supporting Smokefree Air & Tobacco-Free Lives

Court decision upholds NJ SFAA in regulating smoking in hookah bars

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On August 5, 2010 the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey ruled that a local health department (Township of Woodbridge) can enforce the 2006 New Jersey Smokefree Air Act against a hookah bar that allowed smoking to take place. The decision found that:

  1. The 2006 New Jersey Smokefree Air Act’s (Act) definition of smoking, “which includes any other matter that can be smoked”, is not unconstitutionally overbroad nor vague;
  2. The right to operate a particular kind of business that allows smoking on the premises, is not constitutionally protected as a fundamental right; and
  3. Selective enforcement of the Act did not deprive the owner of a hookah bar of his right to equal protection under the New Jersey Constitution. The hookah bar owner argued that other hookah bars existed in New Jersey, so applying the Act his establishment was a violation of his right to equal protection.
  4. Read the Appellate court decision. Visit our hookah webpage for additional information.