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O'Malley signs statewide smoking ban

Publication Date: 2007-05-17
  • Author:Ruma Kumar
  • Publication:Baltimore Sun

Law requires bars, restaurants to be smoke-free by early next year

Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law today one of the most restrictive smoking bans in the nation, putting to rest four years of wrangling between public health advocates and restaurateurs who claimed the measure would hurt neighborhood mom-and-pop operations.

The law requires bars and restaurants to be smoke-free by Feb. 1, 2008, and the ban also extends to private clubs such as American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars halls. Some businesses eligible for financial hardship waivers from the state would get a three-year extension, but must be smoke-free by 2011. With the law signed, tobacco shops are virtually the only public indoor places where smoking will be allowed.

Maryland joined more than 20 states that have enacted similar bans. The state ban comes after five Maryland counties -- Charles, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's and Talbot -- had already opted to go smoke-free. O'Malley backed the statewide effort after Baltimore City's decision to adopt a smoking ban this year.

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