Nebraska town considers banning smoking in apartments

The proposal, which would be one of the few such restrictions outside of California and is similar to federal rules for public housing across the U.S., isn't meant to protect the health of the city's 50,000 residents, but instead to prevent fires.

Councilman Don Preister proposed the ban, which wouldn't affect duplexes and single-family homes, in August after cigarette smoking at a single Bellevue apartment complex led to two fires a month earlier.

The ban, which Preister acknowledged would have secondary benefits of reducing health problems caused by secondhand smoke, is similar to those in dozens of California cities.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the anti-tobacco group SmokeFree Nebraska, said it couldn't find any local ordinances in Nebraska or surrounding states that are similar to the Bellevue proposal.

James Hardy, a smoker who lives in an apartment, argues the measure would violate a state law that says people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their own homes.

By passing this law, you're effectively saying to the whole country, 'If you're a private property owner, you may still exercise your personal liberties and still have a reasonable expectation of privacy within your own dwelling' ... you're saying to the denizens of all apartments that this new class of citizen must surrender their civil liberties by virtue of where they chose to live.

David Sutton, a spokesman for Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Inc., which owns the nation's biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, said in an email there are places where smoking should be banned, such as in small enclosed areas, such as elevators, and places where children primarily are, such as schools.