Smoking has been banned in public places in Iowa since 2008, but there’s been an exception that has allowed smoking in the gaming areas of Iowa casinos.

Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, notes the state’s tribal casinos and some state-licensed casinos temporarily moved to ban smoking to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

“I do think that may be one silver lining of this horrible pandemic that we’ve been living through is we’ve seen casinos across the state make the decision to eliminate smoking on their premises,” Petersen says, “and it is time for the legislature to just put that policy in place.”