Oklahoma Senate Approves Rebate Program For Smoking Rooms

Publication Date: 2010-04-21

• Author:AP
• Publication:4029TV.com

In 2003, Oklahoma legislators passed a law banning smoking in restaurants unless the owner built a separate ventilated room for smokers.

Tuesday, the Oklahoma Senate voted 38-8 for the Clean Air in Restaurants Act, which would pay restaurants half of what it cost them to build the room if they remove it and go smoke-free by January 2013.

The State Health Department would fund the program using money from the Tobacco Use Reduction Fund, a revolving fund that includes money from the state's tobacco tax.

The bill now returns to the House.