New law gives Illinois counties power to ban public smoking

Publication Date: 2006-06-27

• Author:Kurt Erickson
• Publication:Quad City Times (IA)

Like their counterparts in City Hall, county officials across the state have been given the ability to ban smoking in public places.

But it may be too early to gauge the effect of the new powers, which were granted to counties as part of a new law signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich over the weekend...

The new county smoking law comes nearly a year after Blagojevich signed a law that gave municipalities the ability to adopt their own anti-smoking ordinances. Since then, several Illinois cities — including Bloomington, Normal and DeKalb — have put a no-smoking law on the books.

The county smoking law was put in place after some business owners worried that banning smoking at a tavern within a city’s limits would send smokers to bars in unincorporated areas.

“This law puts the decision about whether to ban smoking in public places in the hands of local government,” Blagojevich said. “It gives people the ability to decide what’s best for their communities.”