Wednesday, August 09 2006
COLUMBUS, OH - Voters would choose between an outright smoking ban or leaving it up to restaurants and bars to decide whether to permit it under a pair of issues submitted Wednesday for the Nov. 7 ballot.
Smoke Less Ohio filed a petition that would pit selected smoking areas against a proposed ban on smoking in all public buildings.
The petition would allow smoking only in bars, bowling alleys, enclosed areas of restaurants and some other areas, as well as overturn smoking bans in 21 communities.
Wednesday was the deadline for submitting signatures for issues intended for the November ballot.
The partial smoking ban is backed by a coalition of tobacco companies, bar and restaurant owners and others who say the outright ban would hurt their businesses.
A group called SmokeFreeOhio, backed by the American Cancer Society and other health groups, filed a petition July 28 to ban smoking in public buildings.
The group filed a complaint asking the secretary of state to investigate complaints that Smoke Less Ohio misled voters into signing its petitions.
Other interests seeking spots on the ballot include:
Horse track owners who want the state to permit slot machine gambling at Ohio's seven tracks and at two free-standing parlors in Cleveland.
A union-backed coalition trying to get voters to raise the minimum wage in Ohio from $5.15 an hour, the federal minimum, to $6.85.
A referendum that would keep Ohio from enforcing changes in workers' compensation laws that reduce the period in which an injured worker can file claims and eliminates payments for some loss of limb.
The Legislature approved the changes earlier this year, but a coalition of unions and trial lawyers is asking voters to stop them from taking effect.
Source: Cleveland.com, as reported by the Associated Press
Published: August 10, 2006
