Statewide smoking ban 10 days away

Publication Date: 2008-09-02

• Author:ROBERT SWIFT
• Publication:Scranton (PA) Times-Tribune

One of Pennsylvania's biggest social policy experiments in decades gets under way this month when a statewide smoking ban takes effect.

The ban on indoor smoking in most public places, including businesses, starts Sept. 11. The Clean Indoor Air Act puts legal force behind anti-smoking policies that have made many areas off-limits to smokers in recent years. State and local officials have authority to enforce the ban and levy fines against individuals and employers who permit smoking where it's not allowed...

With this action, Pennsylvania joins 24 states with smoking bans.

The state Department of Health has spent the past two months preparing to implement the ban.

"We feel ready," said department spokeswoman Holli Senior. "Studies prove that 80 percent of Pennsylvanians favor clean indoor air."