IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!!!!!!

Anti-smoking measure to take effect in 90 days

HARRISBURG -- When state Rep. Michael Gerber was elected to the Legislature four years ago, he was told that "nothing good comes out of Harrisburg without a fight.''

The Montgomery County Democrat, a leader in the effort to enact a new anti-smoking law, said, "This was one hell of a fight.''

Gov. Ed Rendell traveled yesterday to Ambler, a town in Mr. Gerber's district, to sign Senate Bill 246, the Clean Indoor Air Act, which will ban smoking in 95 percent of Pennsylvania workplaces and public places.

Mr. Rendell said the new law will "protect Pennsylvanians from the deadly health effects of secondhand smoke.''

Ambler is also in the district of state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, who's been trying to get an anti-smoking law enacted since 1993. Last summer, the Senate approved a bill that had more exemptions than a bill passed by the House, so a House-Senate conference committee had to work for months to reach a compromise that finally passed both chambers this month.

The law takes effect in 90 days. The state Health Department will have the main responsibility for enforcing the law. The Philadelphia Health Department will continue to enforce that city's separate smoke-free law, which is 2 years old.

If the Legislature permits Allegheny County to re-enact its own local clean air law, the Allegheny County Health Department will likely take over enforcement of the measure.

The six senators from Allegheny County have introduced Senate Bill 1490, to give Allegheny County the authority to re-enact a smoke-free law of its own. It had one last year but it was thrown out in court. It's not known when the measure may come up for a vote.

State Health Department officials said the 90 days of start-up time will allow them to conduct an educational effort for consumers and businesses, with a goal of maximizing compliance by businesses and minimizing problems.

The law will ban smoking in schools, colleges and government-owned buildings; in public transportation centers and mass-transit vehicles; at stadiums and theaters; in restaurants, bowling alleys and nightclubs; in most health-care facilities and most bars and taverns.

Bars and taverns where food sales don't exceed 20 percent of the bar's total gross sales -- and which don't permit people under age 18 to enter -- can still allow smoking.

They must first, however, show records to the state Health Department proving that their revenue from on-premises food sales don't make up more than 20 percent of their business, said Amy Christie of the Pennsylvania Tavern Association.

She said she doesn't know how many Pennsylvania taverns would fall into the category of still permitting smoking. But there are 12,500 bar and tavern licenses in the state, so the number could be significant.

Other exceptions for smoking include private membership groups, like veterans and fraternal clubs; 25 percent of a casino floor (except for the two casinos to be built in Philadelphia, where smoking will be completely banned under that city's ordinance); private homes, except those used as day-care centers; tobacco processing facilities; and 25 percent of the rooms in a hotel or motel.