Prefiled Bills Would Ban Smoking in SC Indoor Public Places

Publication Date: 2010-12-09

• Author:Robert Kittle
• Publication:WSPA

Among the bills prefiled in the South Carolina House are four that would ban smoking in restaurants, bars and recreational facilities statewide.

More than thirty local and county governments in the state already ban smoking in most enclosed workplaces, bars and restaurants.

Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, is sponsoring one of the bills and has sponsored the same thing twice before. You can see his bill here.

He says the ban needs to be statewide so some businesses are not at a disadvantage. "So that you don't have someone in Irmo who can allow smoking, someone in Columbia who can't so people are just traveling to Irmo because that's where they can go and smoke. We want to make sure that the citizens of South Carolina are safe anywhere that they choose to go and eat and we do so by a statewide smoking ban," he says.

Even though his previous bills did not pass, he thinks there's a better chance this time because so many cities and counties already have bans in place.