Senate committee approves statewide smoking ban

Publication Date: 2007-04-18

• Publication:Aiken Standard

Legislation that bans smoking in South Carolina restaurants but allows exceptions for bars was approved by a Senate committee Tuesday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13-3 in favor of the proposal, which has been called a compromise between business owners worried about losing smokers' money and health advocates concerned about secondhand smoke. Numerous communities across South Carolina have banned indoor smoking in public places in the past year, but some bans are being contested in court by restaurants and bars...

Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia, said if the bill passes, local governments may never be able to make their cities completely smoke-free. He preferred to let the South Carolina Supreme Court rule on the two differing opinions appealed from lower courts.