Smoking-ban advocates have never been able to get a bill through the General Assembly. This might be the year they succeed, but with more exemptions than supporters would like. Some accept the compromise philosophically:
What is becoming increasingly clear is that if the Indiana Legislature does adopt a public smoking ban during the current session, it will not be pretty or perfect. But that is likely the way such change will take place where smoking, at least once, was a highly popular choice. More recently, studies show that only 24 percent of Hoosiers still smoke.
And some are mighty annoyed:
The Indiana House of Representatives on Monday took an already weakened statewide smoking bill and made it worse.
House members voted 56-33 in favor of HB 1018, which would ban smoking in most workplaces — unless you work in a casino, over-21 bar, private club or nursing home.
[. . .]
Our opinion is all the loopholes should be removed, or lawmakers should snuff out the bill and start again with a version that will protect all Hoosier workers next session.
I know I'm beating a dead horse (which probably succumbed to secondhand smoke), er, make that blogging a dead horse, but allow me to put in another plug for local control, the antiquated idea that people in a community should be able to decide what kind of community they want. It's not as if there will be no smoking ban if the state passes a weak bill or no bill at all. The tide has turned against public smoking. Bans at the local level were frequently voted down, but now they routinely pass, and some, like Fort Wayne's, are tougher than anything the state will pass.
