Light it up or snuff it out? House Bill 240, also known as the Clean Indoor Air Act, also known as the proposed smoking ban, is set to be voted on this week by the General Assembly. Scratch my earlier veto prediction because Gov. Ed Rendell is calling on the Legislature to pass it, saying it’s as good a bill as he could get (you and I will both note the sound of regret in Rendell’s words).
Here are the exemptions:
- Bars and taverns where food makes up 20 percent or less of annual revenue
- As much as half of an individual casino floor
- Nursing homes and some treatment centers
- Tobacco shops and cigar bars
- Private clubs like the V.F.W. or the Moose Lodge
- Volunteer fire and rescue companies (I’ll note the irony there; firefighters are among those allowed to light up)
- Lodging quarters at full-service truck stops
- Up to 25 percent of rooms in hotels and lodging establishments
So that’s about every special interest group lobbying against a smoking ban. Unbelievable. Why bother?
