State public smoking ban debate reopens in Lansing

Publication Date: 2009-03-18

• Author:CHRIS CHRISTOFF
• Publication:Detroit Free Press

A renewed effort to ban smoking in Michigan restaurants, bars and all public places will get a hearing at noon before a House committee.

There's no legislation pending, and the meeting is meant to reopen the debate, said Rep. Bert Johnson, D-Detroit, chairman of the House Regulatory Reform Committee.

"We're going to do something and do it practically and reasonably," Johnson said. "I hope we can be on one page. I want to let the public know that this Legislature is serious about passing a workplace smoking ban."

Efforts to enact a statewide smoking ban fizzled in 2008 because of differences over whether to exempt Detroit's three casinos from a smoking ban. Johnson has said he favors smoking bans, but is concerned about the economic impact of barring smoking from the casinos.