Vanderburgh County, IN Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)
Key Facts
- Outdoor buffer
- 10 feet from covered enclosed area
- Governing section
- County Code 8.24.020(C)
- First violation fine
- up to $50
- Repeat violation fine
- $100 to $500 per violation
- Enforcing agencies
- Sheriff, Fire Chief, Code Enforcement, Health Dept.
- Each day counts
- separate violation under 8.24.070(C)
Summary
Vanderburgh County's clean-air chapter is primarily an indoor ban, but it reaches outdoors too: County Code 8.24.020(C) prohibits smoking within ten feet of any enclosed public place or employee location where smoking is already banned, so smokers can't just step outside the door.
Smoking is also prohibited within ten (10) feet outside any Enclosed Area where Smoking is prohibited to ensure that tobacco smoke does not enter any such Enclosed Area through entrances, windows, ventilation systems, or any other means.
Full Breakdown
010 as spaces closed in by a roof or ceiling and walls on at least two sides, covering elevators, health care facilities, laundromats, licensed child and adult care facilities, apartment and condominium common areas, polling-place buildings, public transit vehicles and depots, restrooms and lobbies, service lines, shopping malls, and sports arenas, plus all employee work locations. 020(C): smoking is prohibited within ten feet outside any enclosed area where it is already banned, specifically so smoke doesn't drift back in through entrances, windows, or ventilation systems.
020(D). 060(A); complaints from county residents outside Evansville's corporate limits go through the County Clerk's office, while city residents file with the Evansville City Clerk. 030 include private residences (unless used as licensed child care or a health facility), private vehicles, retail tobacco stores, hotel smoking rooms capped at 20% of rentable rooms since January 2, 2009, and certain age-restricted bars and private clubs holding an alcohol permit. 24 does not read as a park-specific or patio-specific smoking ban; it is a building-and-buffer-zone ordinance that happens to extend ten feet outdoors from every covered indoor space, and it does not override any stricter smoking limit a property owner chooses to impose.
Violations & Fines
A first violation in a calendar year draws a fine up to $50 under County Code 8.24.070(A), with every later violation that same year fined between $100 and $500. Each day a violation continues counts as a separate offense under 8.24.070(C), and violating owners, managers, or operators risk suspension or revocation of a County-issued permit or license under 8.24.070(B).
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I smoke right outside the entrance to a covered building in Vanderburgh County?
Does Vanderburgh County ban smoking in parks or on restaurant patios?
What's the fine for smoking in a prohibited area?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Vanderburgh County
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