Statewide smoking ban proposal includes most workplaces, restaurants, bars

Publication Date: 2007-01-12

• Author:MIKE RIOPELL
• Publication:Decatur (IL) Herald & Review

A proposed statewide indoor smoking ban would put out cigarettes in almost all Illinois workplaces, including bars and restaurants, and force smokers 15 feet from entrances to light up outside.

Groups, including the Illinois Lung Association and American Cancer Society, released details of the plan for the first time Thursday, citing the harmful health effects of secondhand smoke as a reason for kicking smokers out of workplaces.

They say that while office workers are protected from secondhand smoke, many bartenders and waitresses are not. If the ban succeeds, Illinois would join 16 other states in going smoke-free indoors.

"We need to play catch-up with the rest of the world," said state Sen. John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat who is pushing the ban.