Monday, September 01 2008
This article in
The Times-Tribune (Scranton, PA) clearly outlines the details of Pennsylvania's statewide smoking ban, which takes effect on September 11, 2008.
The ban on indoor smoking in most public places, including businesses, starts Sept. 11. The Clean Indoor Air Act puts legal force behind anti-smoking policies that have made many areas off-limits to smokers in recent years. State and local officials have authority to enforce the ban and levy fines against individuals and employers who permit smoking where it's not allowed.
The ban is one of Gov. Ed Rendell's top second-term priorities and the product of a year of contentious legislative debate over how far prohibitions against indoor smoking should go.
The ban applies to many restaurants and bars, health care facilities, trains, buses and taxis, sports facilities and theaters.
The law provides exceptions from the ban for cigar bars; tobacco shops; private clubs at which the officers vote to allow it; taverns where food accounts for less than 20 percent of sales; 25 percent of gambling floor space at slots casinos; and private residences as long as they don’t provide child care.
With this action, Pennsylvania joins 24 states with smoking bans.
Statewide smoking ban 10 days away
