Kaine's proposed smoking ban may be extinguished

Publication Date: 2007-03-28

• Author:Joe Rogalsky
• Publication:Washington DC Examiner

A gubernatorial proposal seeking to turn Virginia establishments smoke-free likely will be snuffed out next week.

The General Assembly passed legislation allowing restaurants to do away with no-smoking sections if they posted "smoking permitted" signs at their entrances. Without the signs, restaurants could not allow smoking at all.

Gov. Tim Kaine amended the bill so that the measure now totally bans smoking in Virginia restaurants, something that irked the legislation's sponsor, House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem.

Griffith said Tuesday that he would work to defeat the amendment when lawmakers convene April 4, which would send the original bill back to Kaine. The governor then has the options of signing or vetoing the bill.