Renewed Smoking Ban Afoot

Publication Date: 2013-01-18

• Author:R.L. Nave
• Publication:Jackson Free Press

Lawmakers and health experts are trying to breathe new life into a statewide smoking ban.

Sen. Briggs Hobson, R-Vicksburg, has introduced the Mississippi Uniform Smoke-Free Public Place Act of 2013, which bans smoking in most public places. The ban would extend to restaurants, which the proposal defines as an establishment where at least 25 percent of revenues come from selling food.

Private homes, bars, hotel rooms and conference rooms that are being used for events, casinos, private clubs and cordoned-off restaurant bars would be exempt from the law.

Steve Demetropolous, president of the Mississippi State Medical Association, told reporters at the Capitol Thursday that passing a smoking ban would be "the single most effective policy change guaranteed" to improve Mississippi's overall health...

Hobson's bill, SB 2077, was assigned to the Public Health and Welfare and Appropriations committees.