No State Smoking Ban this Year

[Captain Kemical]

Legislators snuff out smoking ban - for now

Published 2/17/2007
By SARAH KESSINGER and CHRIS GREEN
Harris News Service

A statewide ban on smoking in most public places won't be moving through the Legislature this year.

Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, said Friday that he wouldn't hold a vote on Senate Bill 37, which passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee Feb. 1 on a 6-4 vote.

"I have consulted with interested parties on different sides of the debate surrounding this bill and have concluded that there is little likelihood that floor debate on this measure this year will contribute to the enactment of good public policy," Schmidt wrote in a letter explaining his decision.

No similar measure is traveling through the House either.

Instead, Schmidt is asking legislative leadership to appoint a Special Committee on Smoking Regulation during the summer and fall.

Under the proposed ban being tabled, county commissions could opt vote themselves out of the ban - but residents could force a vote on the matter if 5 percent of them sign a petition.

Source... Garden City Telegram Online