Businesses prepare for new smoking laws in 2015

We’re only two days away from 2015 and a lot of changes will be happening around the Borderland when it comes to where and how you can smoke.

Smoking laws in El Paso will be getting more strict starting in January. Smoking of any kind, including vapor and e-cigarettes, will be banned at city-owned or leased indoor and outdoor facilities, including parks.

City council added vaping, e-cigs and hookah to the city’s existing smoking bans over the summer.

Those same ordinance changes include new upcoming requirements for air handling at smoke shops and hookah lounges. That means that these businesses will have to have separate ventilation systems installed by July 2015 to continue allowing smoking indoors

This is a change from previous requirements of either stand-alone buildings or designations as private gathering areas.

Local businesses say they’re getting ready for the changes as well as they can.

“We actually had to have one installed recently,” said Giessica Attaguile, an employee at the Fox Plaza Smoke Shop in south central El Paso. “But we are ready for it. We heard about the new regulations going down and we got it installed. We want to make sure we’re prepared for it as soon as it hits the city and all the laws and stuff. So we made sure we’re ready so we don’t go out of business or anything.”

Attaguile said that they weren’t expecting any major changes in their business with the new smoking restrictions coming into place on Thursday.