Reading, PA Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Two layers govern outdoor smoking in Reading. First, statewide, the Pennsylvania Clean Indoor Air Act at 35 P.S. §637.1 et seq. (Act 27 of 2008) prohibits smoking in most indoor workplaces and public places, including restaurants, bars (subject to defined exceptions for bars meeting the food-revenue threshold), enclosed sports arenas, theaters, and educational facilities, and gives the Pennsylvania Department of Health primary enforcement authority through complaint investigation and a graduated penalty schedule. The Act does not generally regulate outdoor smoking, except where outdoor smoke migrates into a covered indoor space - for example, a designated outdoor smoking area must be at least a defined distance from an entrance to a covered indoor public place. Second, at the local level, Reading City Council has not enacted a stand-alone outdoor-smoking ordinance for parks, sidewalks, plazas, or other public outdoor spaces, and the Reading City Code at ecode360.com/RE1294 contains no comprehensive outdoor smoking ban analogous to those adopted by larger Pennsylvania cities like Philadelphia (which has a 2009 outdoor-park ban and a 2014 amphitheater/stadium ban) or Pittsburgh (which has restricted smoking at city facilities). The Reading Recreation and Parks Department has authority under its general park-rules framework to post no-smoking restrictions at specific facilities, and posted no-smoking rules are common at city playgrounds, splash pads, and organized youth-sports fields. The Clean Indoor Air Act's partial-preemption provision at 35 P.S. §637.11 limits municipal authority to enact certain stricter local rules - in particular, the statute is read to preempt local regulation of smoking in private workplaces and in bars meeting the food-revenue exception - but courts have upheld municipal authority to regulate smoking on municipally owned outdoor property and at municipal facilities under the general police power. Tobacco-product sales to minors are independently regulated under 18 Pa.C.S. §6305 (minimum age 21 under the federal Tobacco 21 Act of 2019, adopted into Pennsylvania law). Electronic smoking devices (vaping) are within the Clean Indoor Air Act's coverage following the Act's expansion to include 'electronic cigarettes' through later regulatory updates.