Vanderburgh County, IN Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Chapter 8.24 of the Vanderburgh County Code bans smoking in "Enclosed Areas" open to the public, defined in 8.24.010 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. The outdoor reach comes from 8.24.020(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.

Owners, managers, and operators must also strip ashtrays and smoking paraphernalia from every public place and employee location covered by the ban under 8.24.020(D). Enforcement runs through the Sheriff's Department, the Evansville Fire Chief or designee, the Department of Metropolitan Development's Code Enforcement director, the Building Commissioner, and the Vanderburgh County Health Department's Executive Director, per 8.24.060(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. Exemptions under 8.24.030 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.

Chapter 8.24 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.