Statewide smoking ban gains support

Publication Date: 2007-03-07

• Author:David Ingram
• Publication:The Charlotte Observer

State lawmakers in tobacco-rich North Carolina are headed for a showdown over smoking in public places.

Spurred in part by a request from Mecklenburg County commissioners, the General Assembly is considering legislation that would allow counties and other localities to regulate smoking on their own.

Or lawmakers could go further.

Hearings are set to begin as soon as next week on legislation to ban smoking statewide in almost all workplaces, including restaurants and most bars.