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GOVERNMENT

Smoking ban clears House committee

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Comments (3)

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

(Updated Wednesday, March 4 - 7:08 am)

By Mark Binker
Staff Writer

A bill that would ban smoking in virtually all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, passed the House Health Committee today on a voice vote.

The measure must go to at least one more committee, a judiciary panel, before it heads to the House floor, where a similar measure died two years ago.

Supporters, including Democratic Rep. Hugh Holliman of Davidson County who authored the bill, are optimistic they have won over enough votes to pass the measure this year.

Rep. Cary Allred, a Republican of Alamance County, put forward an amendment that would have exempted bars and restaurants from the ban.

The committee voted against that amendment.

Accompanying Photos

File photo (News & Record)

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n0cturne74

March 3, 2009 - 2:03 pm EST

Lets hurry up and ban smoking in bars so that their customer base drops even more and with a little hope, maybe they'll go out of business and another family will starve. You stupid anti-smoking nazis' need to steer your cause to something a little more important these days, like helping businesses come out of recession, not further infecting it.

Lakeshia

March 3, 2009 - 4:55 pm EST

Smoking is very much a public health issue and government clearly has a responsibility to further the well being and good health of all citizens.

casperthegm

March 4, 2009 - 3:43 pm EST

I'm not sure how regulating a known health hazard makes anyone a Nazi. The 2006 Surgeon General's 800 page report clearly spells out the dangers of second hand smoke. Government already regulates restaurants and business for many health hazards and I don't see anyone complaining about business rights regarding those. One common sense example is employees at restaurants must wash their hands. Protecting patrons and employees from the dangers of second hand smoke seems like common sense legislation to me...and long overdue. As for the argument that businesses would be hurt, take a minute and see how many business went under in the states that banned smoking. If all businesses are smoke free then it will be a level playing field for everyone- people aren't likely to drive to Tennessee to grab a burger and light up.