Smoking Ban Bill May Resurface in Lansing

A statewide smoking ban has been kicking around the Michigan legislature for years.

But it’s stalled every time it’s come up.

Now it could be in place by Christmas.

Nothing is formally scheduled yet.

But a Senate committee could take up a bill by the end of the week that would ban smoking in all workplaces.

It would include bars and restaurants, but it may have exceptions for casinos and tobacco specialty shops.

The state House approved bills both last year and 2 years ago with those exceptions in them, but the bills went nowhere in the state Senate.

The Senate also approved a ban bill last year with no exceptions.

But the House and Senate never agreed on whether the bill going to the governor’s desk should have exceptions or not.

So, none of those measures ever made it to Governor Jennifer Granholm.

She’s said more than once she’d sign a smoking ban bill if one ever reached her desk.

Opponents have said they want the decision left up to individual business owners.

Smoking ban advocates have been pushing for a ban for more than a decade.