An experiment with cash incentives for clean indoor air

Audience: Advocates for nonsmoking workplaces, especially those seeking to close exemptions (loopholes) in existing clean indoor air laws or to avoid exemptions (loopholes) in new laws.

Key Points: Oklahoma is experimenting during 2011-2012 with a voluntary program of cash rebates to restaurant owners who convert smoking rooms to nonsmoking space, as an alternative to a mandatory smokefree restaurants law. (Previously owners had argued loss of their investments in the smoking rooms to comply with a 2003 law was a major reason they objected to converting to entirely smokefree.)

Educational Experience: Participants will learn about the Oklahoma experiment and results to date. The attitudes of restaurant owners before the program and their responses during the program will be reported and analyzed with respect to the legislative arguments for and against removing existing smoking exemptions and making more indoor workplaces entirely smokefree without the possibility of smoking rooms.

Benefits: Advocates will learn about the Oklahoma experiment, gaining insight into arguments made by defenders of smoking exemptions---smoking rooms in restaurants in particular---enabling more effective messaging and strategies in efforts to strengthen existing clean indoor air laws and to make new laws more effective.