Johnson County, KS Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Sec. 38-1 took effect July 1, 2017, and bans smoking, defined to include cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, and any similar lighted or vaporized tobacco or nicotine product, inside every enclosed public place in unincorporated Johnson County, from restaurants and bars to libraries, health facilities, service lines, and government meeting rooms. Subsection (d)(2)(s) extends the ban outdoors along building entrances: no one may smoke within ten feet of any public entrance to a public place. Two carve-outs apply to that ten-foot zone: the sliver of public right-of-way that happens to fall within the ten feet is not covered, and a restaurant's or bar's outdoor seating area is not covered either, provided reasonable efforts are made to keep the smoke from reaching customers inside.

The article also sets a Tobacco 21 rule barring sale, furnishing, or purchase of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, tobacco products, or liquid nicotine to or by anyone under 21, with defenses available to retailers who reasonably relied on an ID or a signed mail-order declaration. A. 41-2601 are entirely exempt from the indoor and outdoor rules. A property's owner, operator, or manager must take 'necessary steps' to stop violations, including posting no-smoking signs, removing ashtrays, verbally asking violators to stop or leave, and refusing service, and repeated failure to do so can lead to suspension or revocation of that business's permit or license in addition to any fine.