Smoking Ban Passed by Illinois Lawmakers
The legislations passed the House on Tuesday, May 1, and now goes to Governor Rod Blagojevich to sign. Governor Blagojevich supports the ban enthusiastically". If he signs the legislation, the smoking ban would take effect on January 1. Illinois would be the 19th state in the United States to impose the ban.
The ban is intended to replace a patchwork of local laws. Establishments that were not allowed to have smoking of their premises, because of local laws,here .claimed,ed that they were losing business. For example, if a bar patron could not smoke in the local bar, they could go to the next town where smoking was permitted
According to experts, "second hand smoke kills about 2,900 people in Illinois every year." quoted the NBC report.
The sponsor of the legislation, Representative Karen Yarbrough of Chicago, "There no doubt the actions of smokers are harming non-smokers."
Opponents argued that the state is overstepping their authority. Opponents said that bans on smoking should be done by city, if necessary.
A synopsis of the legislation includes the stipulations that smoking is prohibited in public places, places of employment and governmental vehicles. Public places must have "no smoking" signs posted. Ashtrays m,ust be removed from places where smoking is not permitted. The legislation also prohibits smoking within a minimum of 15 feet from entrances, exits, windows that open and areas with ventilation intakes that serve an enclosed area where smoking is prohibited.
In other words, smoking in any workplace building will be prohibited. Smokers will not be allowed to huddle around the entrance to the workplace building, or any open windows or vent. Smokers must be at least 15 feet away from any opening to the building.
According to the Actions regarding the legislation on the Illinois Government website (ilga.gov/Legislation) shows tat the initial legislation will filed on February 7, 2007. The Illinois Senate passed the legislation on March 29, 2007. The Illinois House passed the legislation on May 1, 2007.
The text of the bill referred to the hazard to public health that is caused by smoking. According the text of the bill on the website, "The national Cancer Institute attributes 65,000 deaths each year due to heart disease and lung cancer, caused by secondhand smoke. Secondhand tobacco smoke causes heart disease, stroke, cancer, sudden infant death syndrome, low-birth-weight in infants, asthma and exacerbation of asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia in children and adults. Secondhand tobacco smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Illinois workers exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke are at increased risk of premature death. An estimated 2,900 Illinois citizens die each year from exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke."
If this bill is signed by the Governor, workers would not have to be exposed to potentially hazardous secondhand smoke while in the workplace, starting in 2008.
Resources:
ilgo.gov/legislation
nbc5.com
Published by Christine Bude Nyholm
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72 Comments
Post a CommentHave you ever seen the consequences of smoking? My father hemmorraghed in my car to the hospital .... my mother died a slower death...brother in law only 78 pounds when he died....please people smoking KILLS...I have respitory problems just from growing up around the second hand smokers ... I never smoked one in my life, but inhaled the second hand poison. SMOKING AND CIGARETTES SHOULD BE COMPLETELY ILLEGAL...LIKE OTHER DRUGS THAT PEOPLE ARE KILLING THEMSELVES WITH. THIS LAW MAY SAVE LIVES...AT LEAST THOSE OF US WHO DON'T WANT TO DIE THAT WAY. WAKE UP YOU ADDICTED PEOPLE....YOU NEED HELP.
This is CRAZY!!!!!! I just came home from a night out with girls that I have been really looking forward to for a long time. I AM NOT A SMOKER................... I went to three different bars in Illinois, all in the same town in fact, and ALL STILL ALLOWING SMOKING IN THEIR ESTABLISHMENT.
For the above comment, I'll whine if I want to, it isn't against the law.............. SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES IS!!!!!!!!! I am going to have to sleep on it but I honestly believe I'll be filing a complaint against every one of the facilities. It's ridiculous to have to come home earlier than you had planned, reeking of NASTY cigerette smoke and your eyes burning sooooooo bad that you can barely keep them open. Not to mention not being able to breathe without wheezing, just because some people can't abide by the rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Give me a friggin' break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It has nothing to do with smoking. It is all about control and giving up your rights. People need to open thier eyes and look at the big picture.
Gun control, smoking control, political mistrust. There is NO way Illinois can put a number to the number of people that die eachyear from
secondhand smoke. That is nothing more than a scare tactic. What is next? We are close to giving up our freedom of speach!
I AM A NON SMOKER.
If we aren't allowed to smoke in Illinois why are we sending our cigarette tax to the goverment? I suggest we smokers band together and start buying our smokes out of state. Maybe the good folks who live in centeral Illinois and a couple of hours from a border can carpool with friends and buy a months worth at a time. While you're out of state fill the car with gas. I am willing to bet once the state goverment starts losing money they will reconsider the law.
We all gripe for the government doing this. Yet WE'RE the ones LETTING them do it! And I speak as a smoker.
Angie...
How many bars and resturaunt do you think will be left in a couple of years?
No sooner did i just post my first message , did i hear of another bar closing down less than an eighth of a mile from the other.
Well done , if you want to kill this state!
Fools!!!!!!
Well its started,
My local bar is closing as i predicted as being the first, many will follow shortly.
Prepare for huge increases in taxes to make up for lost revenue.
Next will be to remove or alter you fireplace to gas, (which i cant afford anyway ) that we had to pay taxes on to be built.
Move our jobs to China and Mexico, and now kill the existing small buisnesses.
I normally was not the conspiracy type, but something smells fishy in my Beloved country.
Loss of jobs, increased local taxes, remove your Fireplace .
Whats next,?
Eating meat (Illegal)?
No Medical without chip installed in arm?
Any household more than 2400 square foot forced to let an illegal alien reside in your home?
Sounds crazy now, but so did the rest.....Before now!
We, the citizens of the state of Illinois and others are of the opinion that the passage of the smoke-free Illinois law to be a discriminatory violation of constitutional rights. It's time that government stopped micromanaging people's lives. This is how Adolph Hitler's Nazi Germany started. Guns will be next to be banned so we cannot protect ourselves from a fascist regime. Isn't standing outside 15 feet from the door in zero degree weather catching pneumonia a health risk? The governor of Illinois is a traitor to the people of Illinois and to tax-paying business people who may lose their businessses because of declining trade as a result of your fascist law.
Business people should be able to say what will happen on their own property. We therefore demand of the
Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, his unconditional resignation or impeachment.
I've been smoking for 47 years now and now the Governor of this state is taking that away from me and all the smokers in this state. If I wanted to stop I would do it on my own, but no Governor is going to tell me to stop, cause that will make me smoke even more than I already do. I have friends that own bars and resturant. Don't you realize what you are doing Governor, you are closing them down. Are you willing to pay their saleries and employies, taxes, food purchases, their utilities, their hospital bills, their liquor, and any other thing that they have to pay. They are to old to start a new business.