Smoking Ban Readies For Round Two

Last week, Representative Myra Crownover (R-Denton) and Senator Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) filed legislation in both the House and the Senate to institute a statewide smoking ban in the workplace. That means everyone's workplace, including bars, pool halls and restaurants.

This isn't the first time that we've seen Representative Crownover bring up legislation supporting a smoking ban. In the 80th Legislature, her smoking ban legislation passed, but only after it was staggered under the weight of so many amendments that it was rendered toothless. There was an interesting intra-county rivalry over that legislation, too (one of the few times we can write of such a thing happening here in Denton County!): The leader of the opposition to the smoking ban in the 80th Legislature was none other than fellow Republican Burt Solomons of Carrollton. Representative Solomons argued that such bans should be left up to local leadership.

Since the Lege last tangoed with a statewide ban, both Dallas and Corpus Christi have expanded local smoking bans to include bars and pool halls. It will be interesting to see if Round Two of this public health tilt will be significantly different from Round One. I don't think that local control proponents like Representative Solomons are going to suddenly change their stripes from one legislative session to the next and get on the statewide ban bandwagon. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that the anti-ban folks will point toward the expansions in Corpus Christi and Dallas as evidence that local control is the best way to go on this issue.