The Virginia House of Delegates voted 59-40 on Wednesday to reject Gov. Tim Kaine’s proposal to outlaw smoking in bars and restaurants, keeping the commonwealth from joining a parade of states that have extinguished smoking in eating establishments and other public places.
Kaine tacked his amendments onto a bill that sought to repeal the state law requiring restaurants to have a nonsmoking section. To allow customers to light up under the original bill, the establishment would have needed to post a “Smoking Permitted” sign by the front door.
“I believe a majority of restaurants would have gone smoke-free within 24 months,” said House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem. “I was trying to find a compromise.”
Griffith acknowledged Kaine now will likely veto his bill, but argued the governor’s amendments were so poorly written the amendments would actually outlaw smoking in any place where food is served, including next to a hot dog cart or at weddings and other catered events. Kaine and other supporters of a ban argued that the state health department would seek to enforce the prohibition only in bars and restaurants.
Virginia would have become the 22nd state to outlaw smoking in bars and restaurants had the General Assembly agreed with Kaine. In states where the legislature has not imposed prohibitions, many individual localities have. Locally, the District of Columbia, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County ban smoking in restaurants and bars.
In another bill, both chambers agreed with Kaine’s changes mandating girls entering the sixth grade to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus. The governor altered the bill to make it easier for parents to opt their daughters out of the requirement. The House and Senate also approved gubernatorial changes to legislation imposing new regulations on the electric industry. Kaine bolstered the measure’s customer-protection provisions.
The House and Senate split on whether to approve the governor’s proposal to give localities until July 1, 2008, to stop purchasing touch-screen voting machines.
