Legislators Decide Against Smoking Ban Exemptions

Publication Date: 2010-02-16

• Author:KSFY Staff
• Publication:KSFY

A bill that died in a Health and Human services House Committee in Pierre today would have let South Dakotans vote on whether certain public places should be exempt from a state wide smoking ban. Some lawmakers on this committee say the bill would have created some smoking ban confusion when it came time for you to cast your vote.

The basics of the bill was to add another option for South Dakotans in November. This would have required bars and casinos who want to have smoking to divide into non-smoking and smoking sections...

Action News spoke with Jamie Boomgarden who is in the Health and Human Services Committee in the South Dakota House that defeated the bill. Boomgarden called the decision a tough one, but he thought there would be confusion to voters in November as well as legal issues if both measures passed.