smoke-free H’burg?
Brent Finnegan -- September 5th, 2006
It seems rather unlikely at this point, considering tobacco is Virginia’s number one cash crop, and Virginia is one of the biggest tobacco product manufacturing states in the US (meaning the tobacco lobby still has a lot of pull in Virginia politics). But there may be legislation in the works that could put a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. WHSV ran a story about it this weekend.
Governor Kaine said he supports a ban on smoking in state buildings, and he’s thinking about supporting a ban on smoking in bars. This would not be a true public smoking ban, but a ban aimed at restaurants and bars:
Kaine did not support a bill in the General Assembly this year that would have prohibited smoking in all public places. The measure passed the state Senate but was killed by a House of Delegates subcommittee in February. Kaine said he remains opposed to the idea, calling it “too much of a reach for government.”
Lots of restaurants have smoking sections, but there aren’t many establishments in H’burg that are totally smoke-free. The Little Grill is one. I can’t think of many others. With the exception of Finnigan’s Cove, Dave’s Taverna, and a few others, most restaurant/bars don’t have very well-separated smoking/non-smoking sections. If you sit in the “non-smoking section” of say, the Boston Beanery, you still walk out smelling like smoke.
My guess is that the ban in state buildings has a much better chance of passing than a ban on smoking in bars, but we’ll see.
-finnegan
Kaine is going for the smoking ban again this year. My guess is that it will have more support this year than last, but whether that will be enough is hard to tell.
Indoor smoking bans have been happening all over the US and the rest of the western world since the arrival of the new millennium. Hard as it is to believe, France just passed a similar ban.
All I know for sure is that it is illegal for bars/restaurants (whatever the hell they are called in this state) to hang a “Happy Hour” sign up so heaven forbid someone could smoke anywhere in public.
Now, that having been said, does the ban come into effect for the effects of the general public due to second hand smoke or is it more towards trying to protect people from smoking’s effect to themselves. If this ban passes, maybe BIG GOVERNMENT needs to ban eating fast food as well. The children of obese parent (s) are more likely to obese themselves…no?
Don’t take me into account, the 3 girls are safe from genetic disaster.