NC House leader seeks more NC smoking restrictions
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Possible Smoking Ban For Bars & Restaurants
Possible Smoking Ban For Bars & Restaurants
Published: January 29, 2009
Updated: January 29, 2009
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - House members have started a new drive to require smoking bans in restaurants, public places and indoor work sites.
House Majority Leader and cancer survivor Hugh Holliman said Thursday there’s no doubt second-hand smoke is a health hazard. He’s the chief sponsor of a bill expanding prohibitions on smoking that lawmakers already have approved for prisons and state government buildings.
Co-sponsor Rep. Rich Glazier of Cumberland County said annual health care costs associated with smoking in North Carolina are in the billions of dollars.
The House narrowly defeated a measure four years ago that would have required restaurants to set aside most of their dining space for nonsmokers. Another bill passed a committee in 2007 but went no further.
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Reader Reactions
I am for all non smoking in restaurants because for the most part the smoking and non smoking parts of most restaurants are not sufficiently separated. Therefore, when you sit in the non smoking section you might as well be sitting in the smoking section because the smoke and smell drift all over the place. If the entire restaurant is non smoking this problem will not exist. My hat is off to the few restaurants in Greenville, NC that have already gone all non smoking on their own.
If the reporter had Senate Bill 6, they would have known that if tobacco sales was the “reason for being”, that business is specifically exempt from this bill. Note that private residences used for child care are included in the ban as are multifamily residences where there is a possibility of smoke entering another living unit. NO smoking on the landing of an apartment complex!
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