Skip navigation

Tobacco strongholds move to ban smoking

RICHMOND Va. Virginia and North Carolina, both major growers and manufacturers of tobacco for some 300 years, are facing an historic sea change as lawmakers in each state look to snuff out smoking in most public places.

In Virginia, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine signed legislation Monday that prohibits smoking in restaurants and bars throughout the state beginning Dec. 1. Under the new law, smoking will only be allowed in private clubs and in restaurants that are equipped with a separate, ventilated room. Smoking also will still be permitted outdoors.

In North Carolina, the largest tobacco-growing state in the country, a bill to ban smoking passed a House legislative committee last week and is now headed to the House legal issues committee. A companion bill was introduced in February in the Senate.

According to published reports, there is bipartisan agreement that cigarette smoke harms health, although some Republicans were angered over what they called “government meddling.”

The North Carolina Restaurant Association did not return requests for comment on the possible ban before press time.

 

Similar smoke ban legislation was defeated in the House in 2005 and again in 2007.

North Carolina accounts for more than one-third of the tobacco grown in the United States, which brings into the state approximately $1 billion in annual revenue.

Contact Elissa Elan at [email protected].

TAGS: News
Hide comments

Comments

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Publish