Senate to debate smoking

Publication Date: 2005-03-03

• Author:Kurt Erickson
• Publication:Bloomington (IL) Pantagraph

Proposed measure would give towns regulation power

Tobacco opponents won another symbolic victory in the Illinois Senate on Wednesday.

In a year that has seen the Senate extinguish smoking in its own chambers and the secretary of state ban smoking in Capitol cafeterias, a Senate panel OK'd legislation that would give local governments more control over smoking regulations.

The measure, which now moves to the full Senate for further debate, would alter the 1989 Illinois Clean Indoor Air Act, which banned smoking in many public places.

If approved, it would allow cities like Bloomington and Normal to pass laws that would, for instance, ban smoking in restaurants.