NC Senate approves small-scale smoking bans

Publication Date: 2008-06-16

• Author:WHITNEY WOODWARD
• Publication:BlueRidgeNow.com

Building on anti-smoking laws enacted last year, the Senate on Monday approved three plans designed to curb smoking on government property.

The proposals were crafted to protect government employees and the public from secondhand smoke, a known carcinogen.

"This issue of secondhand smoke is a big issue, folks," said primary sponsor Sen. Bill Purcell, D-Scotland. "There are many people who will have asthma attacks and heart attacks precipitated by secondhand smoke.

One of the proposals, tentatively approved 31-14, would ban smoking within 25 feet of entrances, ventilation systems and open windows on all state buildings, including offices and museums.

"I will remind you that 25 feet is less than a first down, so it's not very far," Purcell said. "I don't think this asking too much."

Lawmakers in the nation's largest tobacco-producing state have chipped away at smoking at public facilities in recent years, propelled by reports detailing the dangers of smoke exposure.

Anti-smoking advocates pushed for the so-called buffer zones as a way to prevent employees and visitors from being forced to walk through a tunnel of smoke on their way into a government structure. Lawmakers banned smoking in all state government buildings last year.

But the legislation approved Monday represents a scaled-back version of the 50-foot buffer zones originally proposed.