Lawmaker pushes smoking ban in Kansas

Publication Date: 2005-03-06

• Author:DAVID KLEPPER and MICHELLE BURHENN
• Publication:The Kansas City Star

TOPEKA — Lawmakers may consider a plan that would ban smoking in nearly every public place throughout the state — a proposal patterned after a similar ban in Lawrence.

The measure introduced by Rep. John Edmonds, a Great Bend Republican, would ban smoking in restaurants and bars and almost every other type of business, except for tobacco shops.

Right now the law allows counties and cities to choose whether they want to ban smoking in public places. Under Edmonds' proposal, local governments could opt out of the ban if voters passed a referendum.