Soon, wait staff will no longer need to ask restaurant patrons: “Smoking or non-smoking?” Illinois lawmakers approved a statewide smoking ban on Tuesday, May 1. The bill needs only the signature of Governor Rod Blagojevich, who has said he “enthusiastically supports the measure.”
When the measure is enacted, Illinois will be the 19th state to impose a statewide smoking ban, joining a list that includes New York, California, Colorado and Ohio. The only exemption from the ban will be your home (provided it does not violate the terms of your tenancy), about 25 percent of hotel rooms (only when specifically noted), outside (15 feet from entrances to public facilities), and nursing homes.
Sponsored by 7th District state Representative Karen Yarbrough, who represents parts of Oak Park and Forest Park, the ban would take effect on Jan. 1, 2008 and make smoking illegal in nearly all public places, such as bars, restaurants, casinos, horse tracks. She is no stranger to measures promoting clean air and regulating the distribution of tobacco-based products. Five years ago she sponsored the “Display Bill,” which required those who market tobacco-based products to sell them behind the counter to limit their accessibility to minors.
She also sponsored Illinois House Bill 672, which amended the Illinois Clean Indoor Air Act, stating that any unit of local government or any municipality in the state could regulate smoking in public places.
She is proud of the support she received from both the Illinois House of Representatives (where the measure received 73 votes) and the Senate (where it received 34).
“I think that the measure will inspire those who are smoking to consider quitting once it is put into place,” said Yarbrough. “I have known individuals with heroin addictions who find it easier to quit it than smoking. It will also continue our effort to make Illinois more environmentally safe.”
The ban does have its detractors. Doniella Lopez, a case manager at Chicago Family Health is a smoker and says that it will lead to more people smoking outside which could hurt business and cause overcrowding in areas.
“I don’t want to have to come to work and have to make my way through a dozen people standing outside puffing,” said Lopez, who also added that, as a smoker, she would like to be able to have a cigarette if she is in a social environment. “I want to have the option to go out with friends and have a few drinks and light a cigarette if I want. Government should not regulate that for me.”
Yarbrough replies, “They already do that. Everyone has the right to smoke, but your rights stop where mine begin.”
Yarbrough has a bigger problem addressing the issue of the possible millions in lost tax revenue that the state is projected to lose once individuals begin smoking less. She says it’s unclear what the amount of revenue losses might be, or how it would be handled, but notes that millions will also be saved by taxpayers in terms of smoking-related health costs.
“We spent nearly $700 million annually in Illinois treating individuals with smoking-related illness in 2001,” said Yarbrough. “The ban will allow the state to save money on these costs.”
Smoking ban proponents also note that a statewide plan levels the economic playing field by removing the patchwork of local municipal smoking bans that now dot the state.
State Representative Joann Osmond challenges this assertion, saying, “Smokers will just go up a mile to Wisconsin to spend their money,” she said. “This is taking money and revenue out of Illinois and deterring residents of the state to eat out at restaurants.”
Yarbrough points out that our nearest neighbors (Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana) are working on smoke-free measures of their own.
“They see the benefits of the measure and are on board to impart their own statewide bans,” said Yarbrough. “It really is watershed legislation that will benefit many people and the environment in the long term.”
