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October 14, 2013 RE: Act 1099 of 2013, an Act to Prohibit the Use of E-Cigarettes on Public School Property; and for Other Purposes (Arkansas Code 6-21-609)
Attention Public School District Administrators: The Coalition for a Tobacco Free Arkansas is sending this letter to inform you of a very important law impacting all public school districts across Arkansas. Act 1099 was passed during the 2013 Arkansas General Assembly. The law prohibits the use of e-cigarettes on property owned or leased by a public school or public charter school. It goes further to prohibit the use of e-cigarettes in or on any personal property, including school buses owned or leased by the district, whether it be a traditional public school or a public charter. This includes school or district vehicles, annexes, portable classrooms, etc. In other words any personal property owned by the district, that is not considered real property but may house or be utilized to educate or to transport students for the school. What Are E-Cigarettes? E-Cigarettes are defined in the statute as any “electronic oral device” that provides a vapor of nicotine or another substance, used to simulate smoking, and any device having a heating element, battery or electronic circuit which works in combination with liquid nicotine delivery. Posting Requirements 6-21-609 (c) All public and charter school districts are required to post a copy of the statute, conspicuously, at every entrance to each building owned or leased by the school, including any school bus utilized to transport students. PUNISHMENT 6-21-609 (d) While there is no criminal penalty for violation of this act; persons who commit a violation shall have a fine of not less than $10.00 not more than $100.00 assessed. Effective Date Act 1099 went into effect August 16, 2013. We hope this information is helpful to you as you strive to keep your district in compliance with all state mandates relative to public and charter schools. If further information is needed, please contact Katherine Donald (501) 687-0345.
1100 N. University Ave, Suite 257, Little Rock, 72207 · arfreshair.com 14
NOVEMBER 7, 2013
ARKANSAS TIMES
Oil spills in Mayflower and the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010 could have been avoided or much less disastrous if it weren’t for such lax oversight, he said. In Michigan, for instance, Enbridge Inc. did not repair known defects on the line and did not conduct adequate safety inspections. As well, its leak detection system failed to perform adequately. “PHMSA is monopolizing space with pipeline safety standards and for whatever reason it is not being particularly effective in that role,” Swift said. “It’s a regulatory environment where the fox is guarding the chicken coop.” “The agency argues that it doesn’t have teeth but the agency doesn’t use the enforcement power it has,” he said, adding that PHMSA also has the power to shore up its shortcomings by writing new regulations. “Other federal agencies are getting regulations out all of the time.” Edwards said three distinct situations influenced his advocacy for clean, safe drinking water. First, President Clinton, an Arkansas native, appointed Edwards to a position with a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture tasked with funding drinking water systems in rural regions. And second and third, he was dispatched twice with his Arkansas National Guard unit to some alarming circumstances. For a year in Iraq, beginning in 2004, everybody subsisted on bottled water because potable water wasn’t available. In 2005, while helping evacuate the convention center after Hurricane Katrina crippled New Orleans, he realized “we were surrounded by water but none of it was fit to drink.” This country has made some remarkable engineering advances, but a replacement for water isn’t one of them, said Edwards, adding that he felt fortunate to grow up in Tomberlin, a tiny rural community at the edge of the Arkansas Delta with suitable drinking water infrastructure. “It doesn’t matter how rich you are or how poor you are,” he said. “If you don’t have water or if you have bad water, you’re in a world of hurt.”
This story is part of a joint investigative project by InsideClimate News and the Arkansas Times. Funding for the project comes from readers who donated to an ioby.org crowdfunding campaign that raised nearly $27,000 and from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.