MMA-Championed Clean Indoor Air Act Turns 50

August 7, 2025

Fifty years ago, Minnesota became the first state to adopt legislation restricting smoking in indoor public places and workspaces. That legislation, the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act (MCIAA), which the MMA championed, protects workers and the public from the harmful effects of breathing secondhand smoke. 

“Reducing secondhand smoke exposure has been one of our greatest public health achievements, and we are proud of the fact that Minnesota has led the way nationally,” said Minnesota Commissioner of Health Brooke Cunningham, MD, PhD.  

The MMA continued to advocate for clean air and helped pass in 2007 the Freedom to Breathe Act, which prohibits smoking in restaurants and bars. This Act expanded the prohibition of smoking provided in the MCIAA.  

By 2010, workplace exposure to secondhand smoke had declined substantially, falling from 12% of workers exposed in 2003, to just 5%, according to data from the Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey.   

In 2019, the MCIAA was expanded once again to include e-cigarette use (vaping) and cannabis use – a change due in part to the multitude of cities and counties across the state leading the way with stronger clean air protections for their communities.   

Despite updates to the law and reductions in secondhand smoke exposure, many communities are still exposed. In 2023, one in six students were still exposed to secondhand smoke in homes and cars, according to the Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey. For students living in multi-family housing, more than one in four were exposed to secondhand smoke. Nationally, secondhand smoke exposure is more than two times greater among adults over age 25 with less than a college degree, families with incomes below the federal poverty level, and Black adults. 

Find more information on the MDH website about the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act and the health risks of secondhand smoke. Minnesotans who want to stop smoking, vaping or using commercial tobacco can get free help at quitpartnermn.com.