Lawmakers give first-round OK to smoking ban

Publication Date: 2007-03-07

• Author:JoANNE YOUNG
• Publication:Lincoln Journal Star

Twenty-eight senators agreed Tuesday to keep a proposal for a statewide smoking ban alive.

But that doesn’t mean there’s any certainty about its passage.

Although the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Joel Johnson of Kearney, agreed to help advance an amended version of LB395, he said he probably wouldn’t support the change during second-round debate. Johnson said some senators were absent on Tuesday who might have helped pass the bill in the form he would have preferred.

“We didn’t want to take a chance on the bill being killed today,� he said.

The vote Tuesday was 28-4 in favor of passage, with 14 senators not voting.

As it is now, the bill would institute a statewide smoking ban for indoor worksites and other public places but would preserve local control by allowing cities or counties to opt out in whole or part by a vote of the people or a vote of the local governing board or council.