Smoking-ban bills pass in committee

Publication Date: 2008-02-01

• Author:CHELYEN DAVIS
• Publication:Fredericksburg (VA) Free Lance-Star

A Senate committee has passed four different variations of a ban on smoking in public and restaurants, in hopes the House of Delegates--where smoking bans have died in recent years--might be open to at least one of them.

The Senate Education and Health Committee spent most of its time on the broadest bill, sponsored by Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple, which would ban smoking in almost all public businesses and buildings, with a few exceptions.

Supporters recited statistics about deaths from smoking and from secondhand smoke--an estimated 1,000 nonsmokers a year die from secondhand smoke-related illnesses--while one supporter had more personal testimony.