The New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act Applies to Indoor Common Areas of Multi-unit Housing

The 2006 NJ Smokefree Air Act requires that apartment building lobbies and other public areas in an otherwise private building be smokefree, according to the act’s definition of an “indoor public place”.

The 2007 regulations adopted by the New Jersey Department of Health includes the department responses to public comments. Response to comment #29 about shared indoor space states: “Based on this express statutory language, the Department construes the definition to include common or share areas of otherwise private buildings as places at which smoking the Act prohibits smoking.” See page 26 of The Regulations.

A Roswell Park Cancer Institute study published October 1, 2010 demonstrated secondhand smoke exposure can occur in units where non-smokers reside and in shared hallways where smoking is prohibited. The study concludes “…the implementation of a smoke-free building policy represents the most effective way to ensure that residents of MUH units are not exposed to SHS.”

Learn more about the need and trend towards smokefree housing.