Senate panel OKs smoking ban

Publication Date: 2007-06-12

• Author:ROBERT SWIFT
• Publication:Scranton Times-Tribune

A Senate committee approved a statewide smoking-ban bill Monday, but the vote is just a prelude to intense negotiations to determine how extensive the ban should be.

The unanimous vote by the Senate Appropriations Committee in favor of Sen. Stewart Greenleaf’s clean indoor air legislation marks the furthest advance at the Capitol for the smoking-ban issue since it surfaced a decade ago. The bill cleared the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee earlier this year.

Senators of both parties hope to reach agreement on a smoking-ban bill during the several weeks left before the legislative summer recess...

Mr. Greenleaf’s measure bans smoking in most workplaces and public places.

The measure exempts private residences unless used for child or adult day care, tobacco shops and firms that manufacture or sell tobacco products. Hotels and motels could designate 25 percent of their rental rooms as smoking rooms.

If enacted, the legislation would pre-empt any local smoking ban ordinances like the one Scranton adopted.