W00+! okay sorry smokers go outside or smoke at home cause I DON'T WANT YOUR SMOKE IN MY LUNGS! And there is NO non-smoking area in a bar, none that actually counts really. I like to sit at the bar in the middle of the action not in the middle of lung cancer country. bars and resturants WILL get over it. California is doing just fine. Smokers smoking in the same room as a nonsmoker is giving them lung problems when they didn't ask for it. It's inconsiderate and rude. I can't wait till it's enacted!Ban on indoor smoking moves closer to law
1/5/2006, 4:20 p.m. ET
By JEFFREY GOLD
The Associated Press
TRENTON,N.J. (AP) — A move to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and other indoor public places moved a step closer to becoming law Thursday despite the impassioned pleas of owners of bars and bowling alleys who said it would force many of them to fire employees or close.
The bill that was approved by an Assembly committee, and which has already passed the state Senate, is scheduled for a vote by the full Assembly on Monday, the final day of the legislative session.
"This is a bill that I look forward to signing into law," acting Gov. Richard J. Codey said in a statement.
Afterhearing nearly three hours of sometimes bitter testimony, Assembly Health Committee vice chairman Herb Conaway, a physician, said the benefits and savings from reducing exposure to secondhand smoke "far outweigh" the costs to businesses.
Conaway, D-Burlington, and other committee members conceded the measure was "imperfect" because casino floors would be exempt from the ban, but said they would attempt to remove that exemption in a later bill. Also exempt would be cigar bars and tobacco retailers. Violators would face fines of $250 to $1,000.
"This is a giant step forward," Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, who worked for 10 years on the indoor smoking ban, told the committee.
The casino exemption, sought by some southern New Jersey lawmakers but appalling to bar owners, was part of a compromise to ensure passage last month by the state Senate.
The only member to oppose the bill was Assemblyman Samuel D. Thompson, R-Middlesex and Monmouth, who said two-thirds of the state's restaurants are voluntarily smoke-free, so patrons and employees have options.
"I think the people are entitled to a choice as long as smoking is legal," Thompson said.
The measure had broad support from health groups, including the American Cancer Society, and was strongly endorsed by state Health Commissioner Fred M. Jacobs, a physician and longtime anti-smoking activist.
"Smoking contributes to more diseases and deaths in New Jersey than any other cause," Jacobs said. "Secondhand smoke is the third-leading cause of preventable death in this country. It kills 53,000 nonsmokers nationwide each year, including 1,800 in New Jersey."
He noted that 10 states, including neighboring Delaware and New York, have adopted similar smoking bans, and said New York City bars lost no jobs or revenues.
That was disputed by New Jersey bar owners, who said the New York figures were skewed because they began measurement after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when business was depressed.
Two Atlantic City casinos are short walks from the Irish Pub, just off the Boardwalk, and pub owner Cathy Burke told the committee that the bill would doom her establishment, which predated the gambling halls.
"Essentially, the smokers are being bribed: If you want to smoke, you have to gamble," Burke said.
She said the exemption is a "gross distortion" of the law that allowed casinos to come to Atlantic City, which envisioned them as a tool to revitalize small businesses in the city.
Deborah Dowdell, president of the New Jersey Restaurant Association, suggested that lawmakers should give businesses the option of voluntarily adopting smoke-free policies, and those that don't could be required to limit smoking to enclosed areas with air-cleaning filters.
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