Building partnerships to support compliance with and strengthening of local smoke-free laws

With the passage of Colorado's statewide smoke-free law in 2006, a local health department tobacco control program began developing diverse partnerships and approaches to increase compliance with the law at the local level. With limited funding the program has been able to engage vital partners in approaching compliance issues. Partnerships include a network of law enforcement liaisons representing the major municipalities in the county, community advocates and coalition members who conduct compliance assessments and report suspected violations, municipal staff who serve as advocates from stronger laws, a special investigator from the District Attorney's office who provides consultation and creative solutions to increase compliance, and building department and consumer protection staff who support code enforcement activities and alert tobacco control staff of compliance concerns. The initial interest in identifying time-saving and effective compliance-enhancing activities has led to an unexpected benefit: support from these partners for stronger local tobacco control laws. These partners helped with the initiation of a newly formed network of elected officials, the Joint Municipal Leaders group, who've begun convening to coordinate efforts to implement stronger smoke-free and youth access policies across the County. The presenter will discuss how the various partnerships were facilitated and supported. Resource materials to assist with compliance assessment activities will be presented/shared. Lessons learned from these efforts, including the evolution and process of the Joint Municipal Leaders group will be discussed.