CLAYTON Mo. Voters in St. Louis County approved a measure in Tuesday's election that will ban smoking in most public places, including restaurants, in 2011.
The smoking ban applies to unincorporated St. Louis County as well as the city of St. Louis, where aldermen already passed a similar measure with the proviso that a countywide ban also be approved.
According to St. Louis County election officials in Clayton, voters approved the smoke ban by a nearly two-to-one margin.
The ban exempts cigar bars, drinking establishments that generate no more than 25 percent of their total revenue from the sale of food, and the smoking lounges at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, among other select locations or businesses. The ban becomes law on Jan. 2, 2011.
While there were media reports that an association of bowling alley owners might challenge the ban in court, the Missouri Restaurant Association has no plans to instigate or join such litigation, said chief executive Bob Bonney.
He said the MRA has taken the position that business owners should be free to decide how they will meet the needs of their clientele when it comes to smoking, whether that be with a smoke-free establishment, a business with smoking and non-smoking sections, or through the use of technology to filter smoke from the air.
“However, we have said that if a smoking ban were to be enacted, and it did not allow any exceptions, putting all businesses on a level playing field, we would not support it, but we would not oppose it,” Bonney said.
But given that the St. Louis County and city of St. Louis measure did include exceptions “we were opposed to it,” he added.
Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].