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Michigan Senate Passes Anti-Smoking Bill

10 December 2009 3 Comments

Posted by Nel

Michigan is posed to become the 38th state that will ban smoking in public spaces after the state senate voted 24-13 ending a long battle between anti-smoking enthusiasts and a group of bar and restaurant owners.smoking-cigarette-ban

The ban will take effect on May 1, 2010 and will cover bars, restaurants and other workplaces. The gaming floors of Detroit’s three casinos are exempted so it would still be a fair competition to the Indian tribal casinos that are also not part of the ban. The bars and restaurants of those casinos are covered by the ban.

The state House has concurred with the state senate with the vote 75-30.

The new law should have been enacted last year but the bill, which back then did not include any exemptions for casinos, did not pass the floor. Casino owners argued that since Indian run casinos are exempted, customers would flock those areas and they would lose revenue. Hence, the gaming floor exemption was introduced to the bill this year.

The bill is now for signing with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. She is expected to sign it.

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  • wiziology

    People are really going nuts here over the smoking ban. While I agree with both sides of the argument, I ultimately think that it should be up to the PRIVATE PROPERTY owner to decide whether they want to allow smoking or not.

    I have been to plenty of bars in Michigan that are already smoke-free…. if owners thought it was a problem, they would fix it. How much do you think this will cost bar owners who just bought new custom ash trays and top of the line smoke eaters in their bar? They should just lose their money they spent trying to make their establishment cleaner? What about the companies that make smoke eaters and such? They should be forced out of business because the govt. decided it was in our best interest to not have cigarettes around?

    I get that non-smokers dont like the smell and dont want to breathe in “all that” second hand smoke……….. but should smokers really have to nearly freeze to death or be even completely inconvenienced because they got addicted to or enjoy a product that is legal to have and smoke? I can just see all the bowling alley's losing 5x their business because of all the smokers going outside every 5 minutes to smoke.

    I personally will now be using the electronic cigarette which will be allowed indoors after May 1st. No smoke, no smell, no flame, no ash, no problem! It's huge overseas right now, so might as well make it huge here too!

    http://www.losethelighter.com

  • palmaciu

    I'm very happy that the senate finally passed the smoking ban. It's about time smoking in public became outlawed. I went to a club a couple of weeks ago and the air there was unbreathable because of the smoke.

  • palmaciu

    I'm very happy that the senate finally passed the smoking ban. It's about time smoking cheap cigars in public became outlawed. I went to a club a couple of weeks ago and the air there was unbreathable because of the smoke.