Community Action Healthy Living to Close Its Doors on March 20, 2026

Tobacco Bars Advocacy Campaign

Our Tobacco Bars campaign serves as a powerful illustration of Community Action for Healthy Living's ability to collaborate with communities and policymakers to drive meaningful change.

This initiative stands as an example of our dedication to upholding Wisconsin’s Smoke-Free Air Law—a law that has safeguarded clean indoor air for more than a decade.

The Issue: Proposed Changes to the Law

A proposal emerged in Wisconsin to amend where people can smoke cigars and pipes in bars. Under the current Smoke-Free Air Law, only bars that made most of their revenue from selling cigars and pipes prior to 2009 are permitted to allow indoor smoking. This provision has helped limit public exposure to secondhand smoke, protecting workers and patrons alike.

However, the proposed changes aimed to expand these exceptions, enabling more bars to qualify for indoor cigar and pipe smoking if they can demonstrate enough sales of these products. This move threatened to weaken the protections established by the original law and it:

Ruins decades of progress

Wisconsin’s Smoke-Free Air Law has dramatically improved public health, reducing secondhand smoke exposure, heart attacks, and respiratory illness. Rolling it back for new businesses would reverse hard-won gains.

Creates unsafe workplaces

Wisconsin’s hospitality industry has thrived since the 2010 Smoke-Free Air Law. Indoor smoking would force Wisconsin workers to choose between their health and their paycheck.

Our Action: Advocating for Healthy Air

The current rule was clear: No smoking indoors. Adding exceptions confuses the public and business owners, and makes enforcement harder. Confusion costs taxpayers time and money. CAHL responded to these proposed changes by taking action to defend Wisconsin’s strong smoke-free standards. Our advocacy efforts included:

Public Education: Informing community members about what the proposed changes could mean for public health and the state’s clean air progress.
Engaging Policymakers: Meeting with elected officials to share concerns, evidence, and stories highlighting the importance of maintaining smoke-free environments.
Resource Development: Creating toolkits and informational materials to empower local advocates and organizations to take a stand in support of the existing law.
Community Collaboration: Working with public health partners and concerned citizens to build a unified response and amplify our message.

The Tobacco Bars campaign demonstrated our ability to mobilize community members and influence decision-makers on critical policy issues. By raising awareness and encouraging civic participation, we worked to ensure that Wisconsin’s Smoke-Free Air Law remains strong and effective for everyone.

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