STATE HOUSE – Rep. Teresa A. Tanzi today introduced legislation (2023 H-5237) to include casinos in the state’s law prohibiting smoking in workplaces.

“Casino workers are Rhode Islanders, parents, caregivers, taxpayers and human beings, and they deserve the same protections as everyone else in our state. It is fundamentally wrong to say that no one should be exposed to secondhand smoke in the workplace, but carve out an exception that leaves one group of workers not only unprotected, but in fact, bathed in smoke every day. There’s no excuse for continuing to endanger their health, and we need to pass this bill to let them breathe safely like everyone else,” said Representative Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South Kingstown, Narragansett).

Casinos are currently exempted from the 2004 Public Health and Workplace Safety Act, which workers and advocates say has a detrimental impact on casino workers. When Rhode Island’s two casinos reopened in June 2020 following the COVID 19 shutdown, they prohibited indoor smoking as a safety measure. In March of 2022, they reinstated smoking in designated gaming floors.