Alabama SB9 advances: Senate committee clears bill to treat vaping like smoking in enclosed public places

Key Takeaways

• SB9 cleared Alabama’s Senate Committee on Healthcare and now goes to the full Senate

• The bill would apply Clean Indoor Air Act restrictions to vaping devices, treating vaping the same as smoking

• The 2003 law covers most enclosed public places including restaurants, retail stores and government buildings

• Violations are punishable by a $25 fine

• The bill would rename the act in honor of Vivian Davis Figures and references research on indoor nicotine exposure from vaping

2Firsts, January 22, 2026

According to WDNews, a bill that would ban vaping in most enclosed public places across Alabama advanced Wednesday after clearing the Senate Committee on Healthcare and now heads to the full Alabama Senate.

Senate Bill 9 would update the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act to include electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices under the same restrictions that currently apply to smoking. Sponsored by Sen. Gerald Allen, a Republican from Cottondale, the legislation would add “the use of an electronic nicotine delivery system” to the legal definition of smoking.

Alabama’s Clean Indoor Air Act, passed in 2003, prohibits smoking in most enclosed public spaces, including restaurants, retail stores, government buildings, hospitals, nursing homes, shopping malls, elevators, airports and banks. Violations are punishable by a $25 fine.

Allen told lawmakers he reintroduced the bill after encountering vaping at football games, including at a high school stadium and at Bryant-Denny Stadium. He proposed similar legislation during the 2025 session, but the measure did not pass.

In addition to expanding the ban, SB9 would rename the law the Vivian Davis Figures Clean Indoor Air Act, honoring Vivian Davis Figures, who spent several years working to pass the original smoking ban.

Research cited during discussion included a study published by the National Library of Medicine, which found that indoor vaping can expose nonusers to nicotine, though not to the toxic combustion byproducts found in secondhand cigarette smoke. If approved by the full Senate and later passed by the House, the measure would place vaping under the same statewide public-use restrictions already enforced for smoking.

Image source: WDNews