Bill on statewide smoking ban dies

Publication Date: 2008-01-23

• Publication:Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN

A bill that would impose a statewide smoking ban in most public places in Indiana has died.

The House Public Policy Committee heard only brief testimony on the bill Wednesday before its chairman, Rep. Trent Van Haaften of Mount Vernon, said there was no more time to consider it.

The deadline for House bills clearing that chamber’s committees is Thursday, and the time consumed considering the session’s top issue – property tax relief and reform – has caused a backlog of committee action.

The bill would have banned smoking in most public places, with exceptions for bars, bowling alleys and casinos. The bill’s author, Rep. Charlie Brown of Gary, pledged to push the legislation again next session.