Who in in North Carolina, have voted to ban smoking in restaurants and bars ?”
The sponsor of a broad smoking ban in tobacco-growing North Carolina says the bill could be on Gov. Beverly Perdue’s desk very soon. House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman said he would urge fellow House members to support the Senate version of the bill during a key vote Wednesday. The bill would go to Perdue for her signature to become law if Holliman’s request is approved. The Senate version would ban smoking in nearly all restaurants and bars. It leaves out workplaces where children visit, which the House agreed to last month. Holliman said the Senate version would be a good step toward protecting the public from secondhand smoke. A committee likely would be formed to forge a compromise between the competing bills if Holliman’s motion fails.
That’s according to this article: http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/5121758/ The state Senate on Monday gave final approval of a smoking ban in nearly all restaurants and bars. The Senate voted 30-18 in favor of the measure that next returns to the state House, which passed a broader version last month and where bills that made similar attacks on secondhand smoking have died twice since 2005. “We’re preserving the rights of people who don’t smoke. That is what we’re doing. They have a right too,” said Sen. William Purcell, D-Anson, a supporter of the smoking ban. 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. The bill’s primary sponsor said he believes House members will support some kind of smoking ban and expects it will probably be a negotiated compromise wi
