N.C. Senate approves smoking ban

By: JournalNow Staff | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 12, 2009

RALEIGH --

The N.C. Senate yesterday gave final approval to a smoking ban in nearly all restaurants and bars, building momentum to restrict secondhand smoke in the country's largest tobacco-growing state.

The Senate voted 30-18 in favor of the bill that next returns to the N.C. House, which passed a broader version last month and where bills that made similar attacks on secondhand smoke have died twice since 2005.

The bill's primary sponsor said he believes that House members will support the ban negotiated with the Senate, which then would face new votes in both chambers.

"The good side of their bill is they have restrictions on bars and we did not. The good side of our bill is that we have some workplaces," said Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson, a two-time lung-cancer survivor and House majority leader. "So there's some things that we need to talk about."

The House version would ban smokers from places where children under age 18 visit or work. That would have allowed smoking in self-standing lounges but banned it from restaurants with bar sections.

Health groups including the American Heart Association and other health groups have argued that secondhand smoke is a serious, preventable health risk. Opponents including free-enterprise advocates Americans for Prosperity argues that banning smoking from private business establishments violates the right of owners to choose whether to allow smoking.

The arguments were repeated during yesterday's debate when Senate minority leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, tried to amend the bill to allow smoking in for-profit private clubs. Senate Democrats argued that Berger was introducing a loophole that could allow businesses to form membership-only clubs to cater to smokers.

"People will choose to frequent these establishments. People's choice is what we ought to be about. This is a legal product that generates millions, billions, of dollars for North Carolina," Berger said.

The Senate gave tentative approval to its smoking-ban legislation late last week.