2009 News Excerpts

As Gov. Timothy M. Kaine was signing into law a bill that prohibits smoking in many of the state's restaurants and bars, Democrats were already turning the issue into fodder for a political attack on Republican gubernatorial nominee Robert F. McDonnell and his ties to big tobacco.

Democrats accused McDonnell of fighting the restaurant smoking ban at the behest of Altria Group, the world's largest cigarette manufacturer.

McDonnell was Virginia's top recipient of campaign contributions and gifts in 2008 from Richmond-based Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA. He received $35,000 in donations and $6,532 in gifts, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

"All three Democratic candidates for governor stood with Virginians in support of this common-sense legislation,'' said Jared Leopold, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Virginia. "But Bob McDonnell chose special interests over the health of Virginians."

... Tucker Martin, a spokesman for McDonnell, said the Republican supports the idea of smoke-free restaurants but believes the decision should be left to individual business owners, not imposed by the state.

"In this tough economic climate, it is disappointing to watch Democrats attempt to demonize one of the biggest employers in Virginia,'' Martin said. "It is really unfortunate to watch the Democratic Party, bankrolled to a record degree by big union money, come out attacking a major Virginia employer and threatening jobs."

Altria, which recently moved its headquarters to the Richmond area, employs 5,000 workers across the state.

The fact that Democrats have seized on tobacco as an issue for the 2009 campaign signals just how much they believe the state has changed. For years, lawmakers rejected the notion of a restaurant smoking ban, but Kaine (D) said he saw evidence in polls that attitudes about smoking had changed, even in a state that built its economy on the tobacco industry.

Tobacco companies remain a powerful presence in Virginia, however. All three Democratic candidates for governor received campaign contributions from Altria. State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds of Bath received $15,000, and former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe and former delegate Brian Moran of Alexandria each received $10,000.

Altria spokesman Bill Phelps declined to comment on the donations.

In addition to donating to McDonnell's campaign, Altria paid $6,532 to cover the cost of his travel to a meeting of the Republican Attorneys General Association.

On Monday afternoon, Kaine joined state legislators, health advocates and business owners in Virginia Beach to sign the smoking bill.

"I am extremely proud to have been a part of the coalition that made this day a reality, and I am thrilled to place my signature on this monumental step forward for public health in Virginia,'' Kaine said.

Twenty-three other states and the District have enacted prohibitions. Virginia will become the first state in the South to ban smoking in restaurants and bars.

Kaine and House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) spent weeks behind closed doors negotiating the unexpected compromise. The deal represented a rare moment of bipartisan cooperation between the state's two most powerful leaders.

"Knowing that workers in restaurants that allow smoking are twice as likely to develop lung cancer, this new law is a real victory for public health," said Del. David L. Englin (D-Alexandria), who introduced the governor's original smoking ban bill this year.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine signed legislation Monday that bans smoking in bars and restaurants in Virginia ....

The ban takes effect Dec. 1 and covers just about any public place people would eat or drink. A restaurant, under the law, can offer a smoking section only if that area is walled off and has its own ventilation. Private clubs are exempt.

Kaine and an entourage of state senators and delegates came to Croc’s 19th Street Bistro, whose owner made it smoke-free two years ago, to sign the bill. Along one wall of the restaurant, a lectern with the state seal faced people in rows of wooden chairs. Other people leaned on a wall between the bar and dining room, and video cameras from TV stations lined the back.

“We’re not here by accident,” Kaine said before signing. “Why we’re signing this bill here at Croc’s is Virginia Beach restaurants’ leadership on this effort. The statewide association went wild about this, but the Virginia Beach restaurants were very cooperative.”

Croc’s owner, Laura Wood Habr , said the reason the restaurant went smoke-free was its workers.

“We don’t want them working with chemicals that are bad,” she said of the staff, “so why would we want them breathing air that is bad?”

Kaine said his first hint that the state might be ready for the smoking legislation was when he signed an executive order in 2006 banning smoking in state buildings and vehicles. He didn’t hear one complaint, he said.

He introduced, then credited Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, for his leadership in getting the bill out of committee.

“In the past, the committees have been where these bills have taken on water and sunk,” Kaine said.

Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, said public sentiment had clearly shifted in favor of smoking restrictions.

“In talking to people at the grocery store and post office,” Cosgrove said, “even the most hard-core Republicans in Chesapeake said, 'John, when are we going to do something about smoking?’”

Dr. Tom Eppes, president of the Medical Society of Virginia, stood behind Kaine at the event.

“The big knock in pediatrics,” Eppes said, “is children exposed to second-hand smoke get sick at twice the rate.”

When it was time to sign the bill, Kaine explained the process to the non-Capitol crowd: “The way we like to do this is,” he said, “first, everyone look on with fascination.”

He signed.

“And next,” Kaine said, “everyone look up and smile.” Those gathered broke out clapping.

Lawmakers in tobacco-friendly Virginia passed a limited ban on smoking in bars and restaurants Thursday, and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said he would sign it.

The measure restricts smoking to separately ventilated rooms in restaurants and private clubs in a state that has grown tobacco for 400 years.

The decisive 60-39 vote was in the House of Delegates, dominated by Republicans who have battled tobacco restrictions for years. The Senate earlier voted 27-13 for the bill.

“I think it will be signed quite promptly, in the quickest-drying ink I can find,” said Kaine, the Democratic National Committee chairman, who privately negotiated the compromise with Republican House Speaker William J. Howell.

The measure passed the House and Senate without debate.

... A few miles south of the Capitol, Philip Morris churns out Marlboros and Virginia Slims at the world’s largest cigarette factory.

Kaine worked for years for a total ban of smoking in all restaurants. Generally, the bill requires any restaurant that allows smoking to limit it to an area separated from non-smoking patrons by a wall and a door and a ventilation system that doesn’t mix secondhand smoke with fresh air.

“I think persistence can be a virtue,” Kaine said.

The bill’s House sponsor, Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, said there is support in his suburban Hampton Roads district for the restrictions, but that Virginia is not ready for a fuller ban on smoking.

“The overwhelming majority of people who sent us here wanted this to happen,” Cosgrove said.

Republicans were divided on the issue. Last week, House Republicans defied the speaker and diluted the bill with amendments that would have required either independent ventilation or a door but not both as the compromise demanded. They also waived the ban totally when restaurants are rented for private, invitation-only events.

The Senate rejected the House amendments, and a conference committee of three senators and three delegates restored the bill largely to the version Howell and Kaine reached. That version passed Thursday.

Arrayed against the bill was a coalition of powerful lobbies representing the tobacco industry and the state’s restaurants. Phillip Morris spokesman Bill Phelps said the legislation went too far.

“Every restaurant in Virginia already had the right to ban smoking on their own, and many of them did, Phelps said.

Restaurant industry lobbyist Tom Lisk battled the bill as giving large chain restaurants an unfair advantage over small, independent cafes that can’t afford renovations necessary to create smokers-only zones.

Anti-smoking groups gave the measure a lukewarm reception.

The American Cancer Society did not support the bill, but accorded it a measured welcome after its passage as a step toward a fuller ban.

“We’ve worked on this for a number of years, and we will continue to do so because it’s a public health issue,” said Cancer Society lobbyist Keenan Caldwell.

Longtime anti-smoking activist Hilton Oliver of the Virginia Group to Alleviate Smoking in Public, or Virginia GASP, called it “a pretty good bill under the circumstances.”

“It’s not as good a bill as it could have been, but in this state with this legislature, nothing ever is,” said Oliver, the group’s executive director.

Among the groups that supported the bill were the Medical Society of Virginia, which hailed it as a substantial step toward moving restaurant workers away from the health risks of extended exposure to cigarette smoke.

Kaine, uniquely barred by Virginia’s Constitution from seeking re-election this fall, called passage Thursday “a very significant accomplishment” but dismissed suggestions that it will define his term. He said he ranks it alongside the administrative ban on smoking he imposed on all state buildings in 2006, shortly after he took office.

During this year's annual basketball game between delegates and senators, the House point guard was Del. Chris Jones of Suffolk. It's a role that suits him well, and not just because of his jump shot.

The Republican lawmaker has been the point on several pieces of major legislation in his 12 years at the Capitol. On Thursday, he steered a restaurant smoking ban past turbulent opposition ... and onto the desk of Gov. Tim Kaine, an ally in the cause. Talk about an assist.

The result is a bill that will end smoking in most state restaurants, producing a healthier workplace for thousands of Virginians starting Dec. 1.

The final version is a marked improvement over the original compromise announced earlier this month. It ensures patrons a smoke-free entrance into most restaurants, bans smoking in restrooms and protects staff from retaliation if they refuse to work in smoking areas.

The bill's passage could not have happened without a hand from Kaine, House Speaker Bill Howell, Sen. Ralph Northam and Del. John Cosgrove. But Jones was the pivotal strategist who leveled barriers that seemed insurmountable 12 months ago.

Last year, health advocates' joy dissolved when former Del. Terrie Suit took charge of the legislative committee that oversees most tobacco bills. The Virginia Beach Republican had favored a ban, but she reversed that stance to secure her promotion.

Jones was next in line for chairman of the General Laws Committee when Suit retired. Without pomp, he assembled support from Republicans and Democrats for a compromise.

Anyone who has disagreed with Jones knows he is polite but immovable once he makes up his mind. He toughed out reprimands from party leaders five years ago when he helped pass tax increases to guarantee adequate school and public safety funding. He has grinned and shrugged off repeated scolding from this page for his annual slaughter of bills designed to reform the way legislative districts are drawn.

He'll get heat from tobacco country colleagues over the smoking ban, too, but he's also won appreciation from restaurant workers and diners whose health will no longer be injured by secondhand smoke.

It's no coincidence that when Jones isn't shooting hoops or ducking partisan shrapnel, he's filling prescriptions at his Suffolk pharmacy.

The battle over the smoking ban has never really been about tobacco profits or political egos. It's about health. Jones gets it, and Virginia promises to be a healthier place for everyone because of his leadership.

A generation ago, tobacco was paraded through the streets here in celebration of the region’s No. 1 crop. On Thursday, local legislators voted for a partial ban on smoking in restaurants and bars.

If there’s a sign the tide has turned on the issue of smoking, it could be the yes votes by four of six members of the Southwest Virginia legislative delegation in favor of the Virginia Indoor Clean Air Act, which was approved in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly.

State Sen. Phil Puckett, D-Tazewell, and Delegates Joe Johnson, D-Abingdon, Dan Bowling, D-Richlands, and Bud Phillips, D-Castlewood, all voted for the ban; while Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, and Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, voted against it.

For Wampler, a key issue in his opposition was restriction of freedom; he said he has supported bills to allow local restrictions on smoking, but not a statewide ban.

“I generally feel those are decisions left up to patrons,” Wampler said. “If the restaurant’s smoking and you don’t like smoking, you don’t go.”

He said he expects to see more changes to Thursday’s bill before it becomes law – and more proposed legislation in the future to regulate smoking.

“There’s no doubt about it, tobacco is on its way out,” said Delegate Joe Johnson, D-Abingdon, who voted in favor. “Tobacco used to be big in Washington County, it did, but the economy in the world is changing. We don’t have the tobacco sales like we used to … it’s not profitable now.”

Johnson said people can still smoke if they want – but this law will save a lot of lives.

“I think people that want to visit a restaurant should be able to do so and not smell the smoke,” Johnson said. “Also, the workers who work in restaurants … it’s a health concern for them.”

In a state with four centuries of tobacco heritage, the House of Delegates passed the anti-smoking bill in a 60-39 vote; the Senate earlier passed it 27-13.

The bill, which limits indoor smoking to separate ventilated rooms in restaurants and private clubs – and adds protection for employees who want to avoid secondhand smoke – now goes to Gov. Tim Kaine, who supported a more comprehensive ban.

Kaine said in a news conference Thursday that he will sign the bill into law “quite promptly.”

“We’re never going to tackle the nation’s health-care challenges if we don’t start off tackling the nation’s health challenges,” Kaine said. “The popular sentiment on this is moving strongly in the direction indicated by the margin of passage today.”

The ban will take effect Dec. 1. ...

Kaine had supported a total ban in all restaurants. The compromise effectively guarantees that smoking will not be totally eradicated in Virginia taverns and eateries for years, if not decades.

Virginia, which 400 years ago helped found a nation on the leafy cash crop of tobacco, yesterday took a significant step toward smoke-free restaurants and bars.

Lawmakers passed and sent to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine a measure that restricts smoking in restaurants to ones with rooms that are ventilated separately and to private clubs.

Kaine, who in 2006 had issued an executive order banning smoking in state government buildings, said he will sign the legislation.

"I think it will be signed quite swiftly -- in the quickest-drying ink I can find," Kaine said outside his office.

The Democratic-controlled state Senate voted 27-13 to pass Senate Bill 1105. The tally in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates was 60-39.

An identical piece of legislation, House Bill 1703, cleared a Senate committee yesterday and also is on track for approval.

Kaine lauded the legislature's bipartisan support for the bills, and the measures' sponsors -- Sen. Ralph S. Northam, D-Norfolk, and Del. John A. Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake.

"It's a very significant accomplishment."

Twenty-three other states and Puerto Rico have passed bans on smoking indoors at bars and restaurants.

"Historically it is a step, but one in which Virginia is in accord with a lot of other states," Kaine said. "We're never going to solve the nation's health-care challenges if we don't start off tackling the nation's health challenges."

Information released by Kaine's office suggested that Virginia's new ban would be the toughest among the nation's top five tobacco-producing states, which also include North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee. Among them, only Tennessee has a statewide ban, which exempts private clubs and any establishments that require proof of age to enter.

Over the years, legislative attempts to extinguish smoking in public have had little success in Virginia, headquarters of Philip Morris USA, the Henrico County-based tobacco giant.

"Every restaurant in Virginia already had the right to ban smoking on their own" and many did, said Bill Phelps, a Philip Morris USA spokesman.

Hilton Oliver of the Virginia Group to Alleviate Smoking in Public, or Virginia GASP, called it "a pretty good bill under the circumstances."

Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, had worked out the bill's details with Kaine.

Yesterday the House of Delegates passed the bill without debate. Thirty-two of the 53 Republicans, including House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, defied Howell and voted against the measure.

The legislation is "something whose time has come," Cosgrove said. "I voted against it last year. Even hard-core Republicans back home were telling me, 'We like what you're doing in Richmond, but you need to pass a smoking bill.'"

Del. Terry G. Kilgore, R-Scott, who had offered amendments to try to weaken the bill, said the public sentiment favors a smoking ban.

"One thing I have learned in politics is, don't get in front of a train," Kilgore said.

This year -- with all 100 members of the House up for re-election -- Howell sent signals that the Republican leadership might be willing to forge a compromise on the issue.

Howell met with Kaine, and along with Del. S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, and Northam and Cosgrove, began work on a compromise.

Dissident Republicans, led by Kilgore, attempted to filter the bill with amendments that would have allowed smoking when minors are not present and in areas separated by a door and without independent ventilation. But further negotiation convinced House leaders there was enough GOP support for the measure.

The governor has struggled with opposition in the House and with a deep national recession that has forced cuts to the state budget and tamped down many of his initiatives. ...

More restrictive smoking bills that cleared the Senate earlier this year were killed in the House. Asked whether the restaurant ban could be the beginning of an expansion of anti-smoking initiatives, Kaine said momentum is building.

"I don't know," he said. "That's going to be another legislature and another governor wrestling with that."

Virginia, whose economy relied on tobacco for almost four centuries, will ban smoking in most restaurants and bars.

The General Assembly on Thursday passed historic legislation that, come December, will outlaw lighting up inside eateries unless they have an enclosed smoking room with independent air ventilation. The bill allows smoking in open-air outdoor patios and at private clubs.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who unsuccessfully pushed for smoking bans in each of the last two years, said he expects to sign the bill next month in the "quickest drying ink I can find."

After two weeks of intense debate, the legislation passed without discussion on votes of 27-13 in the Senate and 60-39 in the House. Many lawmakers said there was an overwhelming public support for the ban.

"We gave our constituents what they demanded," said Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake. "That's our job up here."

Three South Hampton Roads delegates played vital roles in passing the legislation. Cosgrove introduced a House bill for the ban, HB1703. Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, authored a Senate bill, SB1105, which won approval Thursday.

Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, ran the bill past a legislative hurdle that tripped up previous efforts to ban smoking. In each of the past two years, similar bills passed the Senate only to be killed in the House without a recorded vote by a six-member subcommittee. Jones, who this year became chairman of the House General Laws Committee that oversees the bill, bypassed the unfriendly panel.

Virginia will join 23 states that outlaw smoking in restaurants. Owners and diners who violate the ban will face a $25 fine.

The bill was a compromise between health advocates who wanted an unconditional restaurant smoking ban and conservatives who held that restaurant owners should be allowed to decide whether it is in their business interests to ban smoking.

Anti-smoking groups praised the compromise, noting that most restaurant owners already bar smoking and, among those that don't, many will not want to pay to enclose and ventilate a room for puffing.

Under the legislation, restaurant workers cannot be required to work in smoking rooms against their will.

Deborah Bryan, regional vice president for the American Lung Association, called the bill "a huge step forward" for Virginia.

The ban was strongly opposed by Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette producer, and its corporate parent, Altria. Both corporations are headquartered in metropolitan Richmond.

Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Altria, said the legislation is "effectively a complete ban on smoking."

"It's important to highlight the fact that every restaurant in Virginia now has the right to restrict smoking on its own and some have done so," Phelps said.

The House last week passed a watered-down version of the bill that allowed smoking in any room that was separated by a door from the rest of a restaurant. The Senate insisted on stronger legislation. Negotiators from the two chambers rejected most of the House provisions, however, and there was no effort by delegates to restore them on Thursday.

"The one thing I learned in politics is, don't get in front of a train when it's coming down the track," said Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, who voted against the legislation.

Cosgrove rejected contentions that allowing smoking is a business decision for restaurant owners.

"Every restaurant is regulated now: They have a business license, they have an alcohol license, they have department of health regulations. The nanny-ism argument is spurious. Some people say it's a property-rights issue. People said the same thing when they didn't want to integrate their restaurants."

Unusual bipartisan cooperation between Kaine, a Democrat, and Republican Speaker William Howell of Stafford helped the bill pass. The two appeared jointly at a news conference last week urging the ban.

For Kaine, the ban may be an answer to critics who say he has not established a legacy as governor.

"This is a good bill," Kaine said. " This is one of those things we can do most easily that will promote health." ...

"Our economy has changed," Cosgrove said. "We have ports and military and technology in Virginia. While tobacco is a legal product, it also has a fairly potent drug: nicotine."
[Web Editor's Note: Delegate John Cosgrove, quoted above twice, was one of the six subcommittee members who killed House and Senate legislation on no-smoking for three straight years. Think of the lives he could have saved, the medical bills he could have erased, if he had been willing to vote his words three years ago. This year is an election year.]

The Virginia General Assembly gave final approval Thursday to a plan that prohibits smoking in most of the state's bars and restaurants, handing Gov. Timothy M. Kaine one of his first significant legislative victories.

Kaine and others have pushed for a prohibition for years. ...

"I think it . . . demonstrates persistence can be a virtue," Kaine said at a news conference. "I learned early on you've got to stick with something you believe in and maybe you can make it happen."

Starting Dec. 1, smoking will be banned in most restaurants and bars, although it would be permitted in private clubs, on some outdoor patios and in separate ventilated rooms.

"It's just a big step in the right direction for the health of Virginians," said Sen. Ralph S. Northam (D-Norfolk), a pediatric neurologist.

With no debate, the Democrat-controlled Senate voted 27 to 13 for the proposal. Hours later, the Republican-controlled House approved it 60 to 39. The bill will be sent to Kaine, who said he will sign it into law.

Tobacco was once the foundation of Virginia's economy. The state is still home to thousands of tobacco farms. The proposal was strongly opposed by the powerful tobacco and business communities and by some anti-smoking activists who did not think it was comprehensive enough.

"You're going to have some people happy with the compromise and some people that aren't," Del. S. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) said. "Some might think we didn't go far enough. Some people think we went too far."

The state has repeatedly resisted efforts to curtail smoking in public places, even as health concerns over secondhand smoke prompted 23 other states and the District to enact prohibitions. Virginia will become the first state in the South to ban smoking in both restaurants and bars.

"It's going to save a lot of lives," said Keith Hare of the Medical Society of Virginia. "Our hope is that one day all indoor spaces in the commonwealth will be smoke-free."

Kaine and House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) spent weeks behind closed doors negotiating the unexpected compromise. The deal represented a rare moment of bipartisan cooperation between the state's two most powerful leaders.

Many legislators from rural, tobacco-growing areas in the southern part of the state joined with the most conservative members to oppose the bill. They objected to what they said was an assault on individual freedom.

Currently, bars and restaurants impose their own smoking rules.

"I believe very strongly in the power of the free market to resolve the collective wishes of our society," Del. C. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) said.

In Virginia and across the nation, public sentiment in recent years has shifted rapidly in favor of such bans. A 2006 Gallup poll found that even most smokers believed that restrictions in public places were justified.

The Virginia General Assembly gave its final approval Thursday to legislation that bans smoking in most of the state's bars and restaurants, representing a critical victory for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and a significant political and cultural shift for a state whose history has been intertwined with tobacco for centuries.

Just hours after the Virginia Senate approved the measure Thursday morning, the House voted it through 60 to 39 without debate.

Virginia has repeatedly resisted efforts to curtail smoking in public places, even as health concerns over secondhand smoke prompted 23 other states and the District to start enacting prohibitions.

The Republican-controlled House has been a choke point for years because of the strong influence of rural lawmakers who consider tobacco a critical ingredient in the state's economy, and because of their resistance to imposing limits on personal freedom. In Virginia, where one in every five adults is a smoker, government restrictions on smoking in private establishments have been limited to day-care centers, certain large retail stores, doctors' offices and hospitals.

Currently, individual bars and restaurants impose their own smoking rules. This bill for the first time puts the government into that mix and covers almost all dining rooms and bars in the commonwealth. ...

The action did not come easily; the House weakened the original proposal earlier this month. That forced Kaine (D) and House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) back to the negotiating table, where they persuaded lawmakers to restore the original language of the compromise legislation they had hammered out in private.

Their ban covers most restaurants and bars, but permits smoking in private clubs and in establishments that construct separately ventilated enclosed smoking rooms for patrons. Neither the anti-smoking movement nor the tobacco industry was thrilled with the compromise plan.

The ban will go in effect Dec. 1.

A statewide smoking ban in many bars and restaurants was approved by the General Assembly today and is on its way Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. ...

The measure, SB1105, bans smoking in bars and restaurants except for private clubs, facilities with separate smoking areas equipped with independent ventilation systems and establishments that have open-air outdoor patios.

The House, which earlier in the session attempted to water down the ban, voted for the bill, 60-39. The bill, which is sponsored by Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, passed the Senate, 27-13.

Other provisions in the legislation would make it effective Dec. 1, 2009 and permit bar and restaurant employees to work outside designated smoking areas without facing professional punishment.

Also this morning, another Northam bill targeting smoking was killed by a House subcommittee. That legislation, SB1106, would have made it illegal to smoke in a vehicle when a child is present and created a $100 penalty for violations.

Northam said that bill was inspired by a third-grade student he met during a speaking engagment at a school on the Eastern Shore last year.

The student, whom Northam identified as "Matthew," told the senator, "My mother makes me wear my seatbelt, which is a good thing. But then she gets in the front seat and smokes and that irritates me."

Despite the death of that bill this year, Northam, a pediatrician by profession, said he expects to carry similar legislation next year because he believes an increasing number of Virginians favor smoke-free environments.

The Virginia House of Delegates this afternoon voted 60-39 to back a partial ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, sending the bill to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who plans to sign the measure.

Earlier today the Senate voted 27-13 day to back the compromise, ironed out by House and Senate negotiators.

The compromise to further restrict smoking in Virginia, a state where tobacco has been intertwined with the economy for hundreds of years, is a victory for Kaine.

Twenty-three other states and Puerto Rico have already passed bans on smoking indoors at bars and restaurants.

The bill would prohibit smoking in all public restaurants that do not have a separately ventilated room for those who wish to light up.

Private clubs would be excluded from the ban, and smoking would [could] be permitted on patios, so long as the retractable flaps of any patio enclosure are lifted. Workers at restaurants with smoking areas could not be compelled to work in the smoking areas.

The agreement eliminates from the bill a House amendment to allow smoking in establishments that don't permit minors. The changes would take effect Dec. 1.

The legislation had the approval of a bipartisan conference committee of Senate and House of Delegates lawmakers.

The committee included three senators: Ralph S. Northam, D-Norfolk, the Senate sponsor; Mamie E. Locke, D-Hampton and Frederick M. Quayle, R-Chesapeake. It also included three delegates: Chris Jones, R-Suffolk; Albert C. Eisenberg, D-Arlington; and John A. Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake. ...

The Virginia Senate revitalized a tough smoking ban bill Monday by rejecting several House of Delegates amendments that proponents felt would weaken the legislation.

Stripped out of the bill were House modifications to permit smoking in any establishment during hours that they did not admit minors or when the place is rented for a private function. Also removed was an amendment that only required a separate smoking space in a restaurant to be divided by a door, not a room with an independent ventilation system.

The Senate action came after several legislators met last week with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine in an effort to restore a compromise bill that would ban smoking in many bars and restaurants across the state.

The Senate and House versions of smoking ban legislation are expected to end up in a conference committee where the differences between the two versions can be resolved, said Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk.

“Everybody is still trying to come to one accord on this bill,” said Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, who is the sponsor of the House version, HB1703. “We’re trying to get a bill that’s acceptable to all parties.”

A proposed compromise would impose the smoking ban in many bars and restaurants. Exempt from the prohibition would be private clubs and facilities with separate smoking areas equipped with independent ventilation systems. Also excluded would be facilities that allow smoking in outdoor patios with retractable window flaps.

“The agreement that we’ve come up with is what 75-percent of Virginians have all asked us to do,” said Northam, who is the sponsor of the Senate bill, SB1105.

The House amendments that were removed from his bill would “defeat the whole purpose” of the legislation, he said.

Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk; Cosgrove and Northam were among the legislators who met Friday with Kaine to talk about a smoking ban compromise.

Efforts to get a smoking ban through the General Assembly have failed in recent years. Likewise, legislation to impose a bar and restaurant ban seemed destined for defeat this year until Kaine, House Speaker William Howell, R-Stafford, and other legislators crafted bi partisan compromise bills.

If passed by the legislature, Northam said the compromise would take effect Dec. 1 . The compromise would also allow employees at establishments that permit people to smoke to request assignment to a non smoking section without any professional penalty, he said.

... “We have a strong agreement that something needs to be done about smoking in restaurants,” [Kaine] said [Monday] but declined to offer specifics.

The Virginia Senate today stripped House amendments that would weaken a Senate bill that seeks to ban nearly all smoking in bars and restaurants.

Sen. Ralph S. Northam, D-Norfolk, called the amendments to his legislation ... "unacceptable" in calling for their defeat on the Senate floor. The body obliged, rejecting the amendments in a 28-11 vote. [Web Editor's Note: Sen. Blevins said his vote was recorded as no vote, and should have been to reject the amendments, which makes the vote 29-11.]

The bill now goes back to the House of Delegates. If it insists on its amendments, House and Senate negotiators will determine what type of bill goes to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

The amendments, added by Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, would have permitted smoking in restaurants and bars where minors are not present and would also have allowed smoking in such establishments during private functions.

The add-ons ran contrary to Northam's revised bill, which had been brokered between Kaine and House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford more than a week ago.

Northam's bill would prohibit smoking in bars and restaurants, providing exceptions in those establishments that have a separate ventilated smoking area and private clubs.

The senator said that he is confident that negotiations over the next few days would produce a version of the legislation upon which both chambers could agree.

"We're continuing to have discussions," said Kaine. "There is strong agreement that something needs to be done about smoking in restaurants."

EXCERPTS from The Washington Post, February 16, 2009, "Va. Deal Beefs Up Smoking Measure; Kaine Negotiates With GOP Leader", Tim Craig.

At a meeting Friday, Kaine (D) sat down with House and Senate leaders to restore elements of his smoking ban proposal so that it includes most bars, in addition to restaurants. In keeping with the initial compromise between Kaine and Howell, smoking would be allowed in enclosed rooms that are ventilated with fresh air from the outside, the sources said.

This latest agreement, which needs final approval by the General Assembly, is another sign that the state's two most powerful leaders have committed to enacting a law that protects workers and patrons from the risks of secondhand smoke.

On Feb. 5, Howell (R-Stafford) and Kaine said they had agreed on a smoking ban in all indoor bars and restaurants, but smoking would be permitted in private clubs. Public establishments would be given the chance to construct enclosed, ventilated smoking rooms for patrons.

But when the bill came up before the Republican-controlled House of Delegates last week, lawmakers amended the bill to allow smoking in rooms separated by doors, even if there is no separate ventilation system.

They also carved out exceptions allowing smoking in outdoor patio areas; at restaurants during private functions when the function takes up the entire restaurant; and at clubs or bars at times when under-age patrons are not admitted. They also delayed implementation of the bill until Jan. 1. ...

Kaine and anti-smoking advocates blasted the House effort to weaken the bill, noting it would allow smoking in most bars because they typically do not admit minors. Anti-smoking advocates also said the House amendments would subject employees to smoke-filled rooms -- negating one of the bill's chief objectives.

Sources say the latest agreement, which will be announced Monday, removes most of the House amendments. Smoking would be permitted in private clubs but not in restaurants that hold private functions. The ban would apply to bars, regardless of whether minors are admitted. The patio exception, however, will remain. Legislators have to agree on what constitutes an outdoor patio, according to sources.

Gordon Hickey, a Kaine spokesman, declined to comment except to confirm that the governor met with several legislators at his office Friday to discuss the issue.

Del. S. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk), chairman of the House General Laws Committee, who helped Howell craft the initial deal with Kaine, also declined to comment on the meeting. But Jones said he believes the new agreement can be approved by the full House.

"I feel there will be enough support for a bill that will pass both chambers," Jones said.

Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott), who wrote many of the amendments added to the House measure, predicted a fierce floor flight.

"We'll have to see it if they have the votes,'' Kilgore said. "I guess they are willing to roll the dice."

When Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and Republican House Speaker William J. Howell announced that they had quietly brokered a compromise that would ban smoking in the state's bars and restaurants, anti-smoking advocates did not rejoice. They read the fine print.

And they didn't like what they found.

They said vague language in the ban allowed restaurants to create separate ventilated rooms for smokers but didn't define the standards for such a room. And they said the fine for ignoring the ban was tiny -- $25 for a violation. The advocates realized, said Cathleen S. Grzesiek, director of government relations for the American Heart Association, that they were very far from their goal of banning smoking in all public indoor spaces.

"This really isn't a victory for public health," Grzesiek said.

Tobacco industry lobbyists weren't happy, either. Glynn Loope, executive director of Cigar Rights of America, said that when the Internet lighted up with news of the ban, he was so mad he "almost threw the computer across the room."

For years, critics of Kaine and Howell (Stafford) have argued that the two showed a striking lack of interest in brokering legislative deals. ... The deal they struck is taking heavy fire from advocates on both sides.

As Kaine and Howell have pushed to win final approval of the ban, mistrust has pervaded the state Capitol.

Loope said he sees Kaine's efforts as the unbridled pursuit of a signature legislative victory. "It's as close to a legacy project as there is," he said.

Teresa Gregson, a lobbyist for health advocates, sees the hidden hand of big tobacco in the ban. "It would be naive for anyone in Virginia to believe that anything comes through the General Assembly without Philip Morris's blessing," she said.

The seeds of the compromise bill were planted in the fall, when Philip Morris lobbyists distributed the outlines of what they would support in any proposal to ban smoking in bars and restaurants in Virginia.

The company wanted a ban to apply only to establishments that catered to people younger than 18 and to exclude outdoor patio areas, cigar bars, private clubs and restaurants hosting private functions, such as wedding receptions. The company also proposed that smoking be allowed in bar areas and in rooms that were either ventilated or separated from the main dining area, according to legislators who have seen the Philip Morris memo.

About the same time, Loope said, the Kaine administration asked him if his clients would get behind a ban on smoking until 10 p.m. Loope said no.

Loope began shopping around ideas of acceptable smoking restrictions, borrowing on legislation enacted in other states. In Oregon, for example, workers in smoky environments can sign waivers indicating they have been warned of the risks but opted to ignore them. In New York, cigar bars thrive, an exception to the city's smoking ban, because patrons go there explicitly to buy and use tobacco products.

Loope said he shared some of his research with Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax). Albo spent November and early December crafting his own version of a bill that attempted to address the concerns of the tobacco industry and the anti-smoking advocates.

"We basically came up with what we thought was a fair compromise," Albo said.

Albo's draft would have exempted bars and restaurants that do not admit minors -- which would have included most nightclubs and small bars during the peak times alcohol is consumed -- as well as private clubs. Instead of agreeing to Philip Morris's suggested language on separate or ventilated smoking rooms, Albo said, he decided to push for rooms that were separate and ventilated.

Albo said he initially thought about introducing the proposal under his name when the General Assembly convened in January. "We wanted to advance a compromise, but we were afraid it would get all loaded up in the Senate," Albo said. "It had to be done in a way where we were not going to be stabbed in the back for being willing to compromise."

So, he said, he handed his draft bill to Howell. Howell said he was increasingly worried about defusing the public perception that House Republicans were too inflexible to compromise with Kaine on big issues. GOP delegates said Howell was also worried about the upcoming November elections, when all 100 House seats are on the ballot, including several in moderate suburban districts where a smoking ban might play well. Howell denied that politics played a role in his decision to sit down with Kaine. But, in talks with Republican members, Howell stressed that the American Cancer Society and American Lung Association had dispatched a paid organizer to his district.

About the start of the General Assembly session, Howell quietly approached Kaine and indicated that he was ready to try to strike a deal on a ban, GOP legislators said.

Kaine agreed without informing his longtime allies in the anti-smoking community.

A large group of health advocates had already met with the governor's staff about their goals for the year: a tobacco tax, a plan to broaden the use of tobacco-settlement money to combat child obesity and a smoking ban.

Grzesiek said the governor's office had asked the smoke-free coalition if they would prefer a higher cigarette tax or the smoking ban. She said they wanted the tax.

For weeks, the governor kept them in the dark on his plans. "It was a secret thing," Grzesiek said. "We were never brought to the table to say what we would compromise on and what we wouldn't."

Then the bill came out, and health advocates were unnerved to find elements that seemed to have been written by tobacco companies.

Anti-smoking lobbyists began urging lawmakers to toughen the bill, telling them that key provisions mirrored language that tobacco companies have used for years to turn the momentum of change to their own advantage. One 35-page internal tobacco company document states, "On a case-by-case basis, develop alternative legislative proposals to assure the best possible legislative outcome when some form of smoking restriction is inevitable."

The document suggests that lobbyists push for legislation to "decrease penalties for smoking restriction law violations" and "promote improved ventilation as the best solution."

But Del. S. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk), chairman of the House General Laws Committee, who sat in on Howell's negotiations with Kaine, said the company had a hands-off approach with him.

"I have not been directly lobbied by Philip Morris on any of the smoking bills," Jones said.

Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott) took up the cause of the company. When the bill came to the House floor, Kilgore successfully pushed to attach many of the same amendments that had been floated by the company last fall, including the provision to exclude bars that allow minors.

"People at Philip Morris were upset," said Kilgore, whose job was made easier because some GOP delegates felt that Howell had misled them into thinking Philip Morris supported the compromise when it did not.

Last week, Kaine and Howell met privately with legislative leaders to restore most of the language of their original deal.

In an interview, Marilyn B. Tavenner, secretary of health and human resources, defended the administration's efforts.

"We talked with advocates on both sides, going back several months," Tavenner said. "We talked to people who wanted partial bans. We talked to legislators. I don't know any one person was any more or any less included. We were just trying to come up with a policy that worked."

Delegate Terry Kilgore, a Republican from Gate City, is the chief architect of amendments that burned holes in legislation for a statewide smoking ban in Virginia.

Kilgore says the original version chips away at business owners’ freedom. We say what started as an imperfect compromise between the House of Delegates leadership and the governor is becoming a joke.

For four years, House Speaker William Howell and Republicans in the House of Delegates have stopped any effort to enact a statewide smoking ban in Virginia’s restaurants. Last week, Howell said they were supporting a compromise – all restaurants in Virginia would be smoke-free, except private clubs and any restaurant that provides a separate smoking room with a separate ventilation system.

But on Monday, the House approved a version so watered down it was nearly drowning.

Lawmakers added amendments allowing smoking in any establishment during hours they don’t admit minors; if the business is rented for a private reception and the owner agrees; and to defer the start date to Jan. 1, 2010, so businesses wanting to build a separate smoking room have extra time to do it.

The House also eliminated the requirement for a separate ventilation system and voted to allow smoking in any room separated by just a door.

Kilgore led the charge to weaken the compromise. Restaurant owners would be hurt financially by a smoking ban, he warned, either by banning smoking and losing customers, or by having to build a separate smoking room and ventilation systems to keep smokers’ business.

In a Wednesday telephone interview, Kilgore claimed Howell’s promise of compromise was only to get the legislation out of committee, “... there was no guarantee to get it out of the House. I asked him about adding amendments and he said that was up to me, if I believed I could get support to pass them.”

Kilgore got the backing of rural legislators and others who don’t want to see a true ban in Virginia. What they approved is a rationalization for a dwindling number of businesses that are hanging on to a proven cancer causer.

Kilgore asserts this measure is still a ban, because most restaurants will go smoke free. The bigger chain restaurants will go smoke free, he said, but some smaller eateries might close off part of their establishment to please their smoking customers.

“Those that really want to keep it, they can keep it,” Kilgore said. “To me this is more of a freedom thing than a smoking thing.”

To this newspaper, and to the restaurant workers who cannot breathe clean air in a smoking workplace, the decision is about health.

Patrons can choose where they eat. If they don’t want to patronize a smoking establishment, they can eat elsewhere. Those spending decisions have caused most Virginia restaurants – 68 percent – to choose to go smoke free voluntarily.

But food service employees can’t always be so choosy, especially in this difficult economy. We believe restaurant workers, as well as patrons, deserve safe air to breathe.

Cigarette smoke is a proven carcinogen and shutting doors or using fans does not eliminate the risk.

The American Lung Association is opposing the House amendments and urging Gov. Tim Kaine to reject them. Kaine issued a guarded statement on the House action.

“The governor is glad the bill is moving forward, though the amendments run counter to the agreement that was made by the leadership,” said Gordon Hickey, Kaine’s press secretary. “We will continue to work on the issue.”

Kilgore’s amendments are stuck in the past. About 75 percent of Virginia voters, including smokers, support the ban.

The amendments added by the House seriously weaken the measure. We had advocated passing the earlier compromise, despite its obvious holes, because we support Virginia moving forward with a statewide ban.

But this revised measure is not a true smoking ban – it is an excuse maker.

Several delegates want to kill a bipartisan compromise that would create a statewide smoking ban in most restaurants and bars, but they know that the measure is popular with voters. So, on Monday, they tried instead to peck it to death.

The result is a pock-marked bill that would do little to protect diners and restaurant workers from the dangerous health effects of second-hand smoke.

Delegates, working in sync with tobacco company lobbyists, eliminated a requirement that would have required restaurants with smoking rooms to install separate ventilation systems. They also carved out exceptions for private functions and for bars and clubs that don't permit minors.

Despite Monday's dispiriting development, there are still opportunities this year to win passage of meaningful public health protections.

First, the contortions delegates went through to avoid voting on a pure smoking ban are proof they know the issue has broad public support. No matter how much they squirm, if they continue to throw up barriers to such a popular measure, they will face angry voters in this fall's elections.

Second, the smoking ban proposal has the backing of Gov. Tim Kaine, House Speaker Bill Howell and a bipartisan group of delegates and senators who can seek to repair damage inflicted by the bill's opponents.

Unfortunately, Attorney General Bob McDonnell has failed to join that group and instead gave cover to the smoking ban's opponents last week when he spoke on a radio show.

... He merely responded to a question.

But McDonnell knew that many of his closest political allies support the ban. He also knows that in his hometown of Virginia Beach, most restaurant owners and the City Council are enthusiastic advocates.

McDonnell based his opposition on a principle opposing government interference in private businesses - a sentiment echoed in a letter sent out by the leader of the Republican Party of Virginia:

"This is not about smoking. This is about unnecessary government intrusion into the private sector. This unconscionable encroachment will cost those affected their ability to operate a free enterprise and further alienate our Republican base."

McDonnell had fewer qualms about tinkering with the free market back in 1996 when he authored a ban on smoking in private child-care centers. Perhaps his thoughts on the issue are grayer than he let on last week.

Public health is not a partisan issue. Polls show both Democrats and Republicans favor smoke-free restaurants. Any political party or candidate who fails to grasp that reality will have some explaining to do in the next election.

Gov. Tim Kaine said today that changes to a compromise bill to restrict smoking in restaurants undermine a deal he cut with key legislators last week, but he stopped short of saying he would veto the measure if it reaches his desk in its current form.

Kaine met with reporters one day after the House of Delegates amended legislation aimed at banning smoking in restaurants with limited exceptions, including establishments that have separate rooms with separate ventilation systems for smokers. The House added more exceptions to the ban, including a provision that would allow smoking in establishments that don’t admit minors.

“The amendments are not to my liking,” Kaine said. “They’re counter to the deal we all announced together and they weakened the bill, but it is advancing and that’s positive and there’s plenty of time to continue to discuss those amendments.”

... the House added provisions that would lift the ban for times when an entire restaurant is booked for a private function and times when minors are not permitted entry. It also approved a change that would allow restaurants to use a door instead of a separate ventilation system for their smoking rooms.

Both bills now go to the Senate.

Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, the Senate sponsor of the legislation, said he opposes the House changes. So does Kaine, who said they violate a deal he reached with House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford County and others.

“We need to get the bill back to the deal,” Kaine said,

Kaine said he was particularly opposed to a House change that would lift the smoking ban for establishments that admit no one younger than 18.

“I think the health of adults is important too,” Kaine said. “So it’s not just minors’ health. This is not a minors’ health bill. This is an all Virginians’ health bill.”

A statewide ban on smoking in most restaurants and bars was watered down and approved by the House of Delegates on Monday.

A series of amendments supported by Republicans and rural Democrats left the measure well short of its original aim to outlaw smoking in all eateries except those that build enclosed areas with separate ventilation systems for puffers.

Saying the measure would force many small restaurant and bar owners out of business, the House erased the separate ventilation requirement and voted to permit smoking in any room separated from the rest of the establishment by a door.

The House also approved amendments that:

- Allow smoking in any establishment during hours they do not admit minors.

- Allow smoking when an entire restaurant has been rented for a private reception - if the owner is willing.

- Defer the start date for the proposed ban three months, to January 1, 2010.

The American Lung Association, which last week gave a nod to the smoking ban, vowed to oppose the House amendments.

"They gutted the bill," said David DeBiasi, a lobbyist for the association. "This bill is a joke now."

Lawmakers who supported the original legislation, while disappointed with the House action, predicted SB1105 still would decrease the number of restaurants that allows smoking.

"It's still a good bill," said Del. John Cosgrove, R -Chesapeake.
[Web Editor's note -- Cosgrove is one of 6 subcommittee members who killed all no-smoking bills from House and Senate for three years.]

The House passed the amended measure on a 59-39 vote. The bill now goes to the Senate, which favors tough anti-smoking bans.

Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, who authored the Senate bill, said the House version is unacceptable.

"People would like a bill that would let them go into a restaurant as a patron or an employee and not be subjected to second-hand smoke," Northam said. "The House bill does away with all of that."

The House has long been hostile to smoking bans. Republicans have argued that government should allow restaurant owners to decide whether it is in their business interest to allow patrons to light up. ...

Outright smoking bans have been approved by the Senate in each of the past two years and killed without a recorded vote by a six-member House subcommittee.

This year's bill was the product of a major compromise between Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat who favored an outright ban, and Speaker William Howell, a Republican who had opposed government intervention.

Several Republican delegates said it was impressive that any smoking ban, no matter its imperfections, passed the House.

"This is a compromise issue, and we got a lot of support for it," Cosgrove said.

Kaine issued a guarded statement on the House action.

"The governor is glad the bill is moving forward, though the amendments run counter to the agreement that was made by the leadership," said Gordon Hickey, Kaine's press secretary. "We will continue to work on the issue."

The major amendments diluting the bill were offered by Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott. He cited reports indicating 68 percent of Virginia restaurants are smoke free and polls indicating 75 percent of Virginians favor bans.

"The market is working without government getting involved," Kilgore said.

Kilgore said costs of either banning smoking and possibly losing customers or building separate rooms and ventilation systems would be prohibitive to restaurant owners.

"We're in a recession, and people are having a hard time hanging on," Kilgore said. "I'm afraid a lot of the small ma-and-pa restaurants will go out of business."

Opponents of the changes said Kilgore's amendments would not protect non-smoking Virginians or restaurant employees from exposure to second-hand smoke.

"In this economy, where people are losing jobs left and right, one of the few options left to people is restaurant work," said Del. Robert Hull, D-Fairfax. "It's not fair in this economy to make people chose between a job to support themselves and their families, and their health."

Rejecting a deal brokered by House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, House Republicans yesterday pushed through a weakened version of a statewide ban on restaurant smoking that Howell fashioned with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

Before voting 61-38 to give tentative approval to House Bill 1703, members added more exceptions to the compromise, which already made allowances for private clubs and restaurants with a designated smoking room that is separated and independently ventilated.

"The governor is glad the bill is moving forward, though the amendments run counter to the agreement that was made by the leadership," Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said. "We will continue to work on the issue."

Among the amendments proposed yesterday by Del. Terry G. Kilgore, R-Scott, and approved by the House, were to postpone the implementation until Jan. 1, 2010, and to allow smoking whenever minors are not allowed.

The House's version of the bill comes up for a final vote today, which likely is a formality. If the legislation survives both chambers, Kaine can make amendments.

The House also voted 59-39 to approve a matching Senate bill that already had cleared that chamber.

Other changes made to the House bill yesterday were to require either a door or a separate ventilation system and to allow smoking in an entire restaurant if it is rented out for a private party. Violations would carry a fine of no more than $25.

Del. John A. Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, patron of the House bill, was relieved to see the support, albeit with changes.

"I'm pleased that for the first time we've gotten a smoking-restriction bill that is very narrowly tailored off the House floor," he said. "Now we have to shepherd it through the rest of the process."

[Web Editor's note -- Cosgrove is one of 6 subcommittee members who killed all no-smoking bills from House and Senate for three years.]

Anti-smoking advocates were disappointed with the House amendments. ...

The ramifications for Howell remain to be seen. The weakened measure's advancement could prove helpful this fall for imperiled GOP delegates in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Or the legislation could create an intra-party rift, warns a group of GOP party leaders and district chairmen who wrote a letter to Republicans in the General Assembly pleading for a "no" vote.

Among the letters' authors is Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick, R-Prince William, chairman of the state party.

"Supporting [House Bill] 1703 will discourage and demoralize the Republican base and confuse those that view us as the party of free market principles," the letter states.

The letter notes that Attorney General Bob McDonnell, the all-but-official Republican nominee for governor, "understands our principles and position in regard to the smoking ban, and we believe you should take heed of his position."

Del. William R. Janis, R-Henrico, spoke against the smoking measure on the floor, at one point saying that "it would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies."

Janis said that since September -- no matter what his constituents contacted him about -- they were most concerned about the economy and joblessness.

"Is this bill likely to create more jobs in your district, or is it likely to place more people on the rolls of the jobless?" he asked, adding that mom-and-pop restaurants particularly would be affected.

Del. David L. Englin, D-Alexandria, said that sometimes people who lose their employment consider restaurant work as an option.

"It's not fair in this economy to force a restaurant worker to choose between employment -- between keeping a job to support his or her family -- and being exposed to what we know is cancer-causing secondhand smoke," he said.

For the owner of McLeans Restaurant on West Broad Street, a state ban on smoking in restaurants represents a bailout of the environmental kind.

"I'm all for it," said Dionne Kelleher, hours before the House of Delegates passed a watered-down version of a proposed smoking ban.

"I've been working in this environment for 20-something years breathing second-hand smoke, and I don't know what that's going to do to me."

The original McLeans, which shares its name with several local eateries, is a popular Richmond breakfast spot that features down-home staples such as country ham, grits and red-eye gravy.

Kelleher started working there on weekends as a 15-year-old. As its owner, she has made do in her cozy establishment with air purifiers and a separate smoking section.

Yesterday, her employees held a spirited debate on the merits of a smoking ban.

One argued that a ban is discriminatory and doesn't square with a state whose growth mirrored that of the tobacco leaf. Another said the restaurant would lose customers. Yet another said a smoke-free McLeans would attract nearby workers who stay away because of the smoke. ...

"I wouldn't do it on my own," she said. "That would be a bad business decision for the type of restaurant I am. But on a personal basis, I'll be glad not to breathe the second-hand smoke."

The legislation could be the breath of fresh air she was looking for.

But yesterday, the House packed more exceptions into a compromise hammered out between Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, who had agreed on a ban except in private clubs and in designated smoking rooms that are separated and independently ventilated.

House Republicans added exemptions for any permanent outdoor patio area of a restaurant or any portion of a restaurant used only for private functions. An amendment also allowed smoking whenever minors are not allowed -- as if adults are somehow immune to the smoke's ill effects.

"At this moment, they should just kill the bill and get it over with," said Anne Morrow Donley, a tobacco-control activist from Richmond.

The General Assembly is not done with the measure. But yesterday's action suggests that legislators are blowing smoke.

As it is, many restaurants are poorly ventilated. A meal in some places means a trip to the dry cleaners. But you can't dry-clean your lungs of the effects of toxic, cancer-causing chemicals.

It's doubtful any establishment with a loyal clientele would be unduly affected by a real smoking ban. As a nonsmoker, I'm puzzled by people who use smoking access as a deal-breaker in their eating and dining decisions.

Or put it this way: I patronize smoke-filled establishments because I like their convenience, their draft beer selection, their ambience or their chicken wings.

Shouldn't the same apply to smokers?

The Virginia House of Delegates approved a plan for a ban on smoking covering most of the state's restaurants and many of its bars Monday, marking a significant political and cultural shift for a state whose history has been intertwined with tobacco for centuries.

Virginia has repeatedly resisted efforts to curtail smoking in public places, even as health concerns over secondhand smoke prompted 23 other states and the District to start enacting prohibitions.

[Web Editor's Note: A law was enacted in Virginia in 1990 allowing any business, agency, etc. to be totally no-smoking, but outlining the bare minimum of places where no-smoking MUST be the law.]

The vote Monday makes it likely that a ban in some form will become law. The Republican-controlled House has been a choke point for years because of the strong influence of rural lawmakers who consider tobacco a critical ingredient in the state's economy, and because of their resistance to imposing limits on personal freedom. In Virginia, where one in every five adults is a smoker, government restrictions on smoking in private establishments have been limited to day-care centers, certain large retail stores, doctors' offices and hospitals.

Currently, individual bars and restaurants impose their own smoking rules. This bill for the first time puts the government into that mix and covers almost all dining rooms and bars in the commonwealth.

The outcome is, in part, a product of a dramatic shift in Virginia's demographic and political landscape, where the influence of Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads has overtaken once-powerful rural interests.

Monday's action did not come easily; the House weakened the original proposal during its debate. Neither the anti-smoking movement nor the tobacco industry was thrilled with the compromise plan brokered by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford). Their proposal permitted smoking in private clubs and in establishments that constructed separately ventilated enclosed smoking rooms for patrons.

Amendments would permit smoking in rooms separated by doors, even if there is no separate ventilation system. They carved out exceptions for smoking in outdoor patio areas; at restaurants during private functions when the function takes up the entire restaurant; and at clubs or bars at times when under-age patrons are not admitted.

Even though some anti-smoking groups considered the amendments painful, supporters of the measure still hailed the vote as a crucial step toward negotiating an acceptable compromise in the coming weeks.

"The amendments gutted the bill, but the bill is still alive, and because of the way the legislative process works, there is still an opportunity for compromise," said Del. David L. Englin (D-Alexandria), who introduced the governor's original smoking ban bill this year.

"It's a big deal," agreed House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Henry). "You got all these guys from tobacco country . . . voting for a smoking ban. Okay, so it's not 100 percent. . . . Does that matter? It's about 90 percent there."

Monday's vote came after a contentious debate on the House floor in which many delegates from rural, tobacco-growing areas in the southern parts of the state joined with the most conservative members to try to gut the bill. Many objected to what they said was an assault on individual freedom.

"We're supposed to be the party of more freedom, not less freedom," said Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick (R-Prince William). "As much as I personally would love a smoking ban, it's not my job to tell small-business owners what they can and cannot allow in their small businesses."

The American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and American Lung Association had their own complaints -- that the proposal does not clearly specify what constitutes a separate room and that it lacks strong enforcement. Violating the ban would bring only a $25 fine for businesses.

"From listening to today's debate of the proposed smoke-free legislation, it appears that the House of Delegates voted to make an already bad bill even worse," said Pete Fisher, vice president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The Democrat-controlled Senate is expected to pass the bill, though it probably will try to restore the language from the version offered by Kaine and Howell.

If approved, Virginia would be the first state in the South to ban smoking in both restaurants and bars.

Tobacco was once the foundation of Virginia's economy. The state is still home to thousands of tobacco farms and Philip Morris, the world's largest cigarette manufacturer.

Public sentiment in recent years has shifted rapidly in favor of the bans, in Virginia and across the nation. A 2006 Gallup poll found that even most smokers believed restrictions in public places were justified.

Kaine and Howell spent weeks behind closed doors negotiating the unexpected compromise. If successful, the landmark deal would offer Kaine a legacy-setting legislative accomplishment before he leaves office and would provide Howell with one less potential vulnerability leading to the House's crucial elections in November.

Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University, attributes the change among Republicans to the state's recent political and demographic shifts.

"Many Republicans think it's too risky for them not to vote for it," Rozell said. "They don't want to be seen as the dinosaurs of Virginia politics anymore."

The House voted on two identical versions of the legislation. Both bills were approved, with half the Republicans joining most Democrats. One of the bills faces a final vote Tuesday.

... Proposed penalties for violations are hardly draconian: a maximum civil fine of $25 for smokers or restaurateurs who defy the law.

And a bill being debated Monday, which already made exceptions for smoking in private clubs and on outdoor patios, was weakened further by Republican amendments that would allow smoking in any establishment off-limits to minors and in any restaurant rented for a private, invitation-only event. ...

The original bill was a compromise between Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Republican leaders of the House of Delegates, who have steadfastly resisted any curbs on tobacco.

The bill would not ban smoking outright, something Kaine sought to protect the health of restaurant workers.

And among other Republican amendments, a requirement that smoking areas be separated by a door and separate ventilation was weakened to require either a door or an independent air system, not both.

Even that version was unpalatable to many Republicans.

"Ask yourself, is this going to make it easier or harder for any of these mom-and-pops or any of these restaurants to continue to do business?" said Del. Bill Janis of Henrico, who denounced the bill as "tyranny" against free enterprise.

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have banned smoking in most public places, including bars and restaurants. Other states debating smoking bans this year include neighboring tobacco state North Carolina, along with Kansas, South Dakota and Wyoming.

The Virginia measure managed to unite natural opponents of smoking bans — the muscular restaurant and tobacco industry lobbies — with the most ardent backers of a total ban, the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society, who say it doesn't go far enough.

... Restaurant industry lobbyist Tom Lisk noted that nearly 70 percent of the state's restaurants have already banned smoking, and that business improved because of it. He also said requiring restaurants to establish smoking-only cocoons with separate heating and cooling systems could put hundreds of small establishments out of business.

And public health advocates ridiculed the notion that the bill would protect restaurant workers when it still allows for restaurant sections where smoking is pervasive, which they would have to serve.

... Gov. Tim Kaine and House Speaker Bill Howell announced the compromise while surrounded by smiling Democratic and Republican lawmakers. The moment offered a satisfying contrast to previous years, when smoking bans died an ignominious death in a six-member House subcommittee.

No one tried to pretend that the deal cut this week is a perfect one. Private clubs are exempt. Restaurant owners may permit smoking if they construct a separate room with its own ventilation system.

Although diners can look forward to smoke-free meals in any restaurant of their choosing once the law goes into effect July 1, some workers still will be forced to expose themselves to second hand smoke to earn a paycheck.

But the men and women who now can look forward to a cleaner, healthier workplace far outnumber the ones still caught in the compromise's loopholes.

Hospitality representatives acknowledge that few establishments can afford the costly renovations and thousands of dollars in equipment necessary to take advantage of the exemptions.

The penalty for violations is minuscule - $25 per violation for restaurant owners and any individual caught lighting up. But restaurant owners know the vast majority of their customers support a smoking ban, and their complaints offer a stronger motivation for compliance than the slap on the wrist envisioned in the legislation.

Few issues have experienced such a dramatic reversal in fortune in a single year. A bill that could not claw its way out of a subcommittee last year is now on a rocket docket headed to the governor's desk. Kaine, Howell and other legislative leaders have agreed that no changes will be made to the agreement without their unanimous consent. That gesture of good faith reduces the ability of tobacco companies to make mischief and all but guarantees passage of the legislation.

Cynics explain the turnaround by pointing out this is an election year, and there's no doubt that public demand for clean air has changed hearts and votes this winter.

However, it is also true that political suspicions could easily have destroyed all hope of progress. Gov. Kaine and Speaker Howell deserve credit for setting their fears and rivalries aside and working together. Norfolk Sen. Ralph Northam, sponsor of the smoking ban bill, also merits a cheer for his months of hard work and his passion for good health.

And special recognition goes to Del. Chris Jones, the rock-steady, unflappable Suffolk Republican who helped forge this week's deal after assuming chairmanship of the committee that has historically killed smoking restrictions. Never a self-promoter, Jones didn't make splashy, headline-seeking promises. He worked quietly behind the scenes to build consensus and trust. That's a strategy that has served him, and all Virginians, well.

Landmark legislation that could stamp out smoking in Virginia's bars and restaurants ignited a fire across Roanoke Valley restaurants on Thursday, where ashtrays line bar counters and replace flower vases as table centerpieces.

On Thursday, Virginia lawmakers crafted a bill that would ban smoking in all state restaurants, except in separate, ventilated rooms.

Though the Roanoke Valley's list of smoke-free restaurants is growing, the proposed smoking law could burn local establishments that rely on patrons who smoke, but have little space and few funds to create a smoker-exclusive area. Footing the cost for a ventilation system could also be a daunting task, especially in slow economic times, restaurateurs said.

"It could very well put me out of business," said David Eckman, owner of Spike's, a Roanoke pub on Memorial Avenue, where at least 70 percent of the regular patrons are smokers.

The approximately 1,000-square-foot Spike's consists of one room with a bar, two pool tables, booths and tables.

On Thursday, Eckman pondered where he could craft a separate area for smokers. Building an expansion onto the back of the pub would cut into a 12-space parking lot for his customers.

"I don't happen to feel that smokers are second-class citizens, but we're treated like we are," Eckman said.

Around the corner from Spike's, Mont Morrow, who manages the Community Inn Restaurant on Grandin Road, studied a back room housing a pool table, video game machines and tables and chairs. It's likely the only space where this Roanoke bar could fashion a separate area for smokers.

But Morrow and other restaurant owners, including Todd Lancaster of Awful Arthur's Seafood Co., want details about how the law defines separate spaces for smoking and what's needed for proper ventilation.

At two Roanoke Valley Awful Arthur's locations, the nonsmoking dining room and the bar, where smoking is allowed, are separate. But at Awful Arthur's in downtown Roanoke, the dining room and bar run together.

"Who's going to build a room within their space to allow somebody to go in and smoke?" Lancaster asked.

To craft an individual smoking room, Morrow speculated that he would have to replace the door to the Community Inn's back room with a glass one and add ventilation equipment. The room already has a smoke filter and ceiling fans.

Still, these changes would send smoking customers, such as Lucian White, to the back room. The retired Roanoke resident goes to the Community Inn several times a week for a beer. He smokes at least one cigarette while he's there.

White said he no longer will frequent the establishment if he cannot smoke at the bar, where he normally perches atop a tall stool.

Meanwhile, the number of smoke-free restaurants in the Roanoke Valley is swelling. Of the eateries in Roanoke, Roanoke County, Vinton and Salem, 73 percent prohibit smoking, according to the Greater Roanoke Valley Asthma and Air Quality Coalition. In 2007, 50 percent were smoke-free, according to the coalition. The nonprofit group merges its data with the Virginia Department of Health, which also tracks nonsmoking restaurants.

Other local restaurants are altering smoking policies, including designating certain areas and times for lighting up.

If a state smoking ban moves forward, it may not deter all customers who smoke, but it might affect how long they lounge and how much money they spend at local restaurants.

H.C. Smith frequents the Village Grill in Roanoke daily, where smoking is allowed in a side area. Smith, of Roanoke, usually orders a drink and sits down for a long smoke. But if he couldn't light up a cigarette, he said, he'd shorten his stay.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Republican House Speaker William J. Howell have agreed on a plan to prohibit smoking in most Virginia bars and restaurants, putting unprecedented political heft behind a measure that was once unthinkable in the cradle of the nation's tobacco industry -- and home base to one of the largest producers of cigarettes in the world.

Under the plan, which represents a rare moment of bipartisan cooperation between the state's two most powerful leaders, smoking would still be permitted in private clubs, and other public establishments would be given the chance to construct enclosed, ventilated smoking rooms for patrons.

A few hours after Howell (R-Stafford) and Kaine stood together to unveil their plan, the legislation was approved by a House committee. It will be taken up Monday by the full House for a vote.

Kaine and Howell both predict the legislation will be approved. But opposition was building Thursday night, not only from the powerful tobacco and business communities but also from influential anti-smoking activists who did not think the proposal was comprehensive enough.

The bill came after weeks of private deliberations between Kaine, who is eager to leave office with a major accomplishment that will help define his legacy, and Howell, who is increasingly nervous about Democratic gains in recent elections.

After helping to block previous efforts to enact a smoking ban, Howell overrode the wishes of many GOP delegates and said it was time to forge a compromise with Kaine, who for years has made the ban one of his top priorities.

"I feel comfortable that the rights of citizens to enjoy a legal product have been protected and that the rights of citizens who don't want smoke while having their dinners have been protected as well," Howell said. "This is something that puts to rest a contentious issue that has been around a long time."

If approved, the bill would take effect July 1 and Virginia would join 23 states and the District of Columbia in banning smoking in bars and restaurants. The tobacco trade fueled Virginia's painful ties to slavery, and this measure would make it the first state in the South to ban smoking in both bars and restaurants.

Richard Kluger, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Ashes to Ashes" about the history of tobacco, said Virginia leaders' proposal to ban smoking in bars and restaurants represents a major milestone in efforts to marginalize smoking in the United States.

"You're talking about a deeply ingrained social habit that was almost the cultural norm," Kluger said. "It's taken 300 years to get there."

Lawmakers in North Carolina, another tobacco-growing state, are also debating proposals for indoor smoking bans this year. Public sentiment in recent years has shifted rapidly in favor of the bans. A 2006 Gallup poll found that even most smokers believed increased restrictions on smoking in public places are justified.

Thursday's announcement does not guarantee that the legislation will win approval in Richmond. Anti-smoking and health advocates argued that the proposed ban does not go far enough. The American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and American Lung Association vowed Thursday to fight the bill. They say it lacks enforcement -- violating the ban would bring only a $25 fine for businesses.

Peter Fisher, a vice president at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, called the proposal "a step backward."

"It looks like a bit of a missed opportunity," said Fisher, whose organization is opposing the bill.

Conservatives are also blasting the proposal, saying it curtails individual freedom. "It's a property rights, liberty and freedom issue," said Del. C. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah). "One of the basic tenets of our party is that we trust people to make decisions that are right for themselves."

But Kaine said the proposal is a "good example of compromise" and "a true bipartisan achievement."

Kaine and Howell started working behind the scenes on a compromise months ago. Last summer, the Kaine administration floated a proposal to limit a ban to evening hours, before alcohol starts flowing. Howell didn't show much interest in the idea.

Howell restarted the negotiations after he grew worried about the looming November elections, GOP delegates say. Since Howell took over as speaker in 2003, Democrats have picked up 11 House seats. If Democrats pick up six more seats in the November election, they will gain the majority.

Howell denies that politics influenced his decision. But Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), who has tried to broker past compromises on the issue, said the speaker is trying to reverse the perception that House Republicans are inflexible.

"I don't think he even wanted to ban smoking, but he wanted to show he could compromise," Albo said.

Howell is now staking his reputation on getting the bill approved.

On Wednesday, one Republican who opposed the ban demanded a caucus vote to find out if a majority supported the issue. But Howell stopped them and said, if they wanted to, they could instead take a vote on his leadership.

According to GOP lawmakers who were there, the delegates declined.

Virginia took a huge step forward in enacting a statewide smoking ban Thursday, albeit one with some holes.

For the past four years House Speaker William Howell and Republicans in the House of Delegates have stopped any effort to enact a statewide smoking ban in Virginia’s restaurants.

Today, they say they will support a compromise that effectively bans smoking statewide. The exceptions include private clubs, and allowing restaurants to build a separate room with a separate ventilation system for its smoking customers.

It’s a partial solution to a serious health issue, but we support the effort. It’s better to move the smoking ban forward, versus seeing it die again for lack of a compromise. Gov. Tim Kaine deserves praise for wrangling the compromise out of Howell, who has led the charge to defeat a full ban for four years.

We don’t believe most businesses will build a separate room allowing their smoking customers, and their employees, to inhale carcinogen-laden air. It is a cost-prohibitive investment for a declining portion of their customer base. Wise restaurant owners instead will invest their money in future business plans, not in trying to build facilities for smoking customers who are in declining in numbers. And because most Virginians support smoking bans in restaurants, we think most restaurants will move forward smoke-free.

The House of Delegates’ General Laws Committee considered the compromise Thursday. It’s now carried by Delegate John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake. State Sen. Ralph Northran, D-Norfolk, is modifying his bill, which passed the Senate earlier this week, to mirror the compromise. ...

On Wednesday, Howell said the deal strikes a balance between people who want to enjoy a smoke-free environment and smokers “who choose to enjoy a legal product.”

Still, we continue to be concerned for restaurant staff who work in any private clubs or restaurants that choose to build a separate smoking site for that clientele. Those employees will remain subjected to known carcinogens on the job. And the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine reports that those workers have a 50 percent greater risk of dying from lung cancer than the general population in part because of second-hand smoke on the job.

A full public smoking ban is in Virginia’s future – whether by legislative might or the will of the buying public. Overwhelmingly, Virginia’s diners want to eat in restaurants that are smoke-free.

We hope the compromise holds and lands on Kaine’s desk.

We also look forward to the day that clean air is commonplace – for patrons and restaurant staff – in establishments across the commonwealth.

The Republican-controlled House of Delegates -- the last barrier to a further clampdown on smoking in public -- could vote as early as Monday to ban lighting up in restaurants and bars across a state built in part on the riches of tobacco.

Heralded by a bipartisan group of lawmakers as an advancement for public health, the proposed smoking prohibition -- already favored by the Virginia Senate -- would represent an expansion of restrictions enacted more than a decade ago that were written largely by tobacco interests.

The new rules, however, and their narrow limitations quickly drew fire from health advocates as weak and from restaurateurs as government meddling in the marketplace.

"This is a political issue, not a health issue," said Thomas Lisk, a lawyer-lobbyist for the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association.

The prohibition would make exceptions for private clubs and restaurants with a designated smoking room that is physically separated and independently ventilated from non-smoking dining areas. It also would exclude any permanent outdoor patio area of a restaurant, any portion of a restaurant used just for private functions, and streetside mobile food stands.

Violators would be subject to a fine of no more than $25.

The new restrictions would be a breakthrough for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat who unsuccessfully has sought additional regulations on smoking in public since he took office in 2006.

For Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, whose House is depicted by opponents as obstructionist, the measure could prove a vote-getter this fall for imperiled GOP delegates in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Kaine said, "This is a big step forward for public health in an environment where secondhand smoke effects concentrate and really cause serious health problems."

Turning its back on the wealthy cigarette and tourism lobbies, the House Republican Caucus had come under pressure to appear in step with increasingly Democratic suburban voters. Roughly half of the GOP caucus signaled in a secret vote that it favored restrictions on smoking.

Those votes, paired with the bulk of House Democrats, could ensure passage.

In the course of a day, Howell and Kaine announced they had forged a compromise on a smoking ban, and by the afternoon, House Bill 1703 was approved 16-6 by a House General Laws Committee traditionally hostile to efforts to halt smoking in eateries.

In front of the panel, doctors pleaded for its passing; a restaurant owner from Hampton Roads called for its demise; the restaurant lobby threatened closures; and groups that have been pushing for a ban -- the American Lung Association, among them -- expressed grave concerns that it didn't go far enough.

Some of those concerns were eased by amendments requiring that smoky air cannot be redistributed to the nonsmoking section, and that people not be forced to walk through the smoking area to get to the nonsmoking room.

High-dollar restaurants and chains may be able to meet all the stipulations, but new walls and air systems could push mom-and-pop shops out of business, critics argue.

Others argue that the one change would save lives. Secondhand smoke is responsible for an estimated 1,700 deaths per year, according to the Virginia Department of Health. In addition, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids estimates the commonwealth spends $113 million a year on health-care expenditures related to exposure to secondhand smoke.

A separate assault on tobacco -- Kaine's proposal to double the cigarette tax to pay for health care -- has been thwarted, led by Henrico County-based cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris USA.

The company also opposes the restrictions on smoking. David Sutton, a Philip Morris spokesman, said every restaurant in Virginia currently has the right to limit smoking on its own without a government mandate.

"While this bill attempts to provide a compromise, we believe that some of the provisions go too far," he said.

"This bill would impose significant costs in a very difficult economy on business owners that would like to accommodate smokers in their establishments."

Sutton declined to comment on the extent to which Philip Morris USA was involved in discussions over a compromise on the indoor-smoking issue.

"On this issue and all the others that are relevant to the company . . . we continue to make our views known to elected officials," he said. "It is something we want to continue to talk about."

Howell said he thinks a compromise was forged this year because "both sides were willing to yield." In addition, state legislators, in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle, proposed 14 smoking-ban bills this year, according to Kaine's office.

When asked yesterday if it had something to do with this being an election year -- all 100 seats in the House are up for election -- Howell gave a drawn-out "no."

"The compromise strikes a fair balance between the rights of smokers who choose to enjoy a legal product and the rights of other individuals who want to enjoy a smoke-free environment when eating at a restaurant," Howell said.

. . .

Twenty-three other states, including Maryland, have passed bans on smoking indoors at bars and restaurants, as have the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

In Virginia, smoking was banned in all state buildings and vehicles under an executive order signed in 2006 by Kaine.

Outside Capitol Square, the debate among politicians caught the attention of smokers and nonsmokers.

"If it bothered me I would sit someplace else," said nonsmoker Tommy Hicks, a defender of smokers' rights. "It's a conscious decision I make."

Sitting at the bar at Richbrau Brewing Co., Hicks said of Kaine, "When he cuts down on emissions from vehicles and other stuff killing us, then he can tell us not to smoke."

Down the bar from Hicks, smoker Heather Fletcher was surprised to hear about the restrictions.

"I think that it will help me quit," she said. "We're conscious of other people. We don't smoke if it bothers people."

Among some of the Republican Party's key conservative allies, there was dismay -- a feeling that the GOP is surrendering to a big-government impulse.

"The activists [Howell] will depend on this fall, many of whom are members of groups like ours, will not be pleased that he has caved," said Ben Marchi of Americans for Prosperity.

A statewide ban on smoking in most restaurants and bars cleared a major legislative hurdle Thursday and appears likely to pass the General Assembly this winter.

The measure would outlaw smoking in all restaurants and bars with the exception of eateries that build enclosed areas with separate ventilation systems for smokers. Also exempt would be private clubs.

The bill was approved by a 16-to-6 vote in the House General Laws Committee, longtime cemetery for anti-smoking legislation, only hours after the bill was introduced.

The bill, HB1703, reflects a major compromise between Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat who for three years has called for an outright restaurant smoking ban to protect health, and Speaker William Howell, a Republican who had insisted that government allow restaurant owners to decide whether it is in their business interests to let patrons light up.

During a lively two-hour hearing before House panel, many activists for and against smoking rights found plenty to dislike about the bill.

Anti-smoking advocates said the measure has glaring loopholes that would render it ineffective in protecting health. They said a proposed $25 fine for violating the law is hardly ample to compel restaurant owners to build expensive, separately ventilated, enclosed rooms for smoking.

The bill offers no relief for restaurant workers, who could be required against their wishes to work in smoking rooms, prompting the American Cancer Society to oppose it.

"This bill does not protect me," said Alie Jo Kuitek, a Richmond bartender who does not smoke. "Other people who choose to smoke should not impact my decision to lead a healthy lifestyle."

Del. Clarence Phillips, R-Dickenson, denounced the bill as a "farce" designed to remove smoking as an issue this fall when all 140 House seats are up for election.

Several small restaurant owners complained that the high cost of building separately ventilated rooms would force them to ban smoking and cause a steep loss in business.

"Eighty percent of my customers smoke," said Randy Estenson, owner of Poppa's Pub in Virginia Beach. "They can't smoke, they don't come."

They argued the requirement would put them at a competitive disadvantage with chain restaurants that could easily afford to build smoking rooms.

"This is not about public health," said Tom Lisk, a lobbyist for the Virginia Retail Merchants Association. "This is about government injecting itself into competing businesses and determining winners and losers."

The bill was endorsed by the Medical Society of Virginia, the Virginia Nursing Association and a number of local government official from around the state.

"It would allow tremendous strides not only in reducing the number of deaths from secondhand smoke, but also from the diseases and illnesses that come from smoke exposure," said Dr. Sterling Reeves, a past president of the state's medical society.

Twenty-three states have smoking bans. Virginia, whose economy was founded on tobacco, has long resisted following suit. The efforts have been opposed by two powerful interests based in Richmond - Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette manufacturer and its corporate parent, Altria.

Speaker Howell, during a morning news conference with the governor, would not explain what changed his opposition to a smoking ban.

The issue may have become particularly sensitive to Republicans in fall elections that place the partisan control of the chamber in doubt. Anti-smoking groups said polls indicated 75 percent of Virginians favored a ban.

Howell, asked if politics prompted his change of heart, smiled and said in an exaggerated voice, "No."

The bill - carried by Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake - will be considered by the full House of Delegates early next week.

A nearly identical measure - SB1105 - has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk.

David Sutton, an Altria spokesman, criticized the agreement as a government infringement on business.

"We continue to believe the business owners of restaurants and bars are most familiar with how to accommodate the needs of their patrons," he said. "They should have the opportunity and flexibility to determine their own smoking policy, and then the public can chose whether or not to frequent places where smoking is permitted."

Kaine, while acknowledging the legislation is far from perfect, called it a "dramatic, dramatic advance for health."

A bill to ban smoking in Virginia’s bars and restaurants cleared the House of Delegates General Laws Committee this evening by a 16-6 vote.

The bill will now go to the full House.

The committee action came on the same day that Republican House Speaker William J. Howell and Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine reached agreement on the proposed legislation.

Flanked by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, Howell and Kaine discussed the legislation that would make exceptions for private clubs and restaurants with a designated smoking room that is physically separated and independently ventilated from non-smoking dining areas.

The bill would also exclude any permanent outdoor patio area of a restaurant, any portion of a restaurant used just for private functions and street-side mobile food stands.

Howell and Kaine cooperated to forge the agreement.

But legislators said the compromise did not include any guaranteed passage by the House, which has been hostile to anti-smoking bills. The bill will be carried by a Republican in the House and a Democrat in the Senate.

“The compromise strikes a fair balance between the rights of smokers who choose to enjoy a legal product and the rights of other individuals who want to enjoy a smoke-free environment when eating at a restaurant,“ Howell said this morning in a news conference.

Keenan Caldwell, director of government relations for the American Cancer Society of Virginia, said health groups had no role in crafting the proposed compromise. He said the groups were still reviewing the proposal.

“Our hope has always been something that protects the health of workers,“ Caldwell said. “At first glance, as you look at (the compromise), it doesn’t do that, and it is not really in the interest of public health, so that is a major concern of ours.“

But Sara Long, director of program services for the March of Dimes, said she was encouraged to see the state “taking baby steps to help the babies.“

David Sutton, a spokesman for cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, expressed skepticism.

“While this bill attempts to provide a compromse, we believe that some of the provisions go too far,“ he said. “It would impose significant costs in a very difficult economy on business owners that would like to accommodate smokers in their establishments.“

And some conservative grass-roots organizations were not happy with the deal.

Ben Marchi, with Americans for Prosperity, said about Howell, “The activists he will depend on this fall, many of whom are members of groups like ours, will not be pleased that he has caved to the advocates of big government, namely the governor.

“We feel it is unfortunate that the speaker has chosen to trust government to solve our problems rather than to trust consumers with the decision.“

If passed, the bill would make Virginia part of a growing list of states passing legislation to curb smoking in restaurants. Twenty-three other states, including Maryland, have passed bans on smoking indoors at bars and restaurants, as have the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

In Virginia, smoking was banned in all state buildings and vehicles under an executive order signed in 2006 by Kaine. [Web Editor's note, a law was passed in 1990 mandating many no-smoking areas.]

State legislators, in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle, proposed 14 smoking ban bills this year, according to Kaine’s office. In addition to that high interest, Howell said he thinks a compromise was forged this year because “both sides were willing to yield.“

The Senate backed total bans, including private clubs, Howell said, and the House was unwilling to adopt such a broad prohibition.

“You’re gonna tell a guy that fought at the Battle of the Bulge that he can’t have a cigarette with his coffee at the VFW club,“ Howell said. “You can’t do things like that.“

Under the legislation, violators would be subject to a fine of no more than $25.

The agreement follows the rejection earlier this week by legislators of a key component of Kaine’s budget-cutting plan involving tobacco—a 30 cent per pack hike in the tax on cigarettes. Kaine had hoped to raise $147 million with the tax, which he said would help prevent further cuts in Medicaid and offesty the $400 million or so it costs the state to treat smoking related illnesses under the program.

Second-hand smoke is responsible for an estimated 1,700 deaths per year [in Virginia], according to the Virginia Department of Health. In addition, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids estimates the Commonwealth spends $113 million a year on health care expenditures related to exposure to second-hand smoke.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and House Speaker William J. Howell announced a deal Thursday morning to ban smoking in restaurants and bars in Virginia, a monumental decision in a state built on the profits of cigarette sales that remains the home to the nation's largest tobacco company.

Under the agreement, which the two men finalized last night, smoking will be permitted only in private clubs but public establishments can also construct enclosed, ventilated smoking rooms for patrons.

Kaine (D) and Howell (R-Stafford) said they expect the legislation to sail through the General Assembly with bipartisan support. The Republican-controlled House General Laws Committee, which has repeatedly killed previous smoking bans, was to take up the bill later Thursday.

"This is a good thing for restaurant patrons, and it's a good thing for workers," Kaine said.

Kaine said the bill is a "good example of compromise" and "a true bipartisan achievement."

Howell also described the legislative deal as one that will satisfy both smokers and nonsmokers.

"I feel comfortable that the rights of citizens to enjoy a legal product have been protected and that the rights of citizens who don't want smoke while having their dinners have been protected as well," he said.

But Teresa T. Gregson, a lobbyist for the American Heart Association, said her organization is "not happy" about the compromise.

Gregson said the bill as drafted does not clearly state what constitutes an enclosed room. Gregson said the bill also lacks stringent penalties for patrons or establishments that violate it.

"We are disappointed they would create a bill and show it to us two hours before the press conference," said Gregson, who vowed to try to amend it. "There are problems with this bill."

The District banned smoking in bars and restaurants in 2006, and Maryland followed with a similar prohibition in 2007. This is not the first year proposals to ban smoking have been proposed in Virginia, but they have repeatedly been defeated in the Republican-controlled House, where Howell has quietly blocked attempts to allow the debate to reach the floor.

Howell told Republican House members Wednesday afternoon that he now supports a "limited" prohibition -- one that would not extend, for instance, to private clubs. Howell told the delegates he met Kaine, who has made the ban one of his top legislative priorities, and the two men agreed to move forward with a compromise.

On Tuesday, the Democratic-controlled Senate approved four bills that would outlaw smoking in bars, restaurants and public places. Howell and Kaine agreed to draft a more narrow version of the Senate bills.

In 2007, Kaine tried to slip a ban past House leaders by attaching it as an amendment to a bill. But 10 House Democrats, including House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Henry), helped defeat Kaine's amendment.

GOP delegates said Howell, who controls prized committee assignments, has told them they can vote freely, without fear of retribution.

"Everybody has got to make up their own mind," said House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem).

One GOP delegate, who declined to be identified because caucus meetings are supposed to be confidential, said Howell told them he was moving ahead with a proposed ban because of the looming elections.

Since 2003, Democrats have gained 11 seats. All 100 House seats are up for election in November. Democrats will take over the majority if they can pick up six seats this fall.

Public and private polls show strong support for a smoking ban, especially in the state's Democratic-leaning north, where several GOP delegates could face strong challenges this year.

... Most people - 60 percent or more - want cigarettes banned from restaurants. And while some legislators have bowed to that sentiment, polls aren't the most persuasive reason for a ban.

The real reason cigarette smoke is getting so much attention this year is that it is a health hazard.

Two and a half years ago, the U.S. Surgeon General concluded that exposure to second hand smoke is harmful. Nonsmokers who breathe second hand smoke increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 percent to 30 percent. They are 20 percent to 30 percent more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer.

Cigarette smoke is a danger to restaurant patrons and, most importantly, it is a danger to restaurant workers. Patrons can always spend their money at restaurants that serve dinners with a side order of fresh air. But waiters, cooks and bartenders can't be so choosy, particularly in the midst of a recession.

Several bills banning smoking in restaurants passed the state Senate Tuesday, but similar measures are still waiting for a hearing in the House General Laws Committee. The Tuesday deadline for considering those bills is fast approaching.

Last year, the proposal was blocked by a six-member subcommittee. The full committee did not deem the legislation important enough for its consideration.

This year, the new chairman, Del. Chris Jones, has promised a "full and fair hearing" on the issue. He has not defined "full and fair," but last year's perfunctory dismissal falls far short of that standard.

At the very least, the issue deserves to be heard by all 22 members of the committee.

There's no guarantee that the full panel will endorse a smoking ban. In the past five years, tobacco companies and farmers have given both Republicans and Democrats sitting on the panel a total of $92,000 in campaign donations.

But members of this committee cannot continue to avoid taking a public position on a smoking ban.

This is not a nuisance bill or feel-good legislation. It's a matter with major implications for public health. Serious legislators will treat it that way.

Smoking in restaurants and most other public places statewide would be banned if legislation that passed out of a Senate committee Thursday becomes law.

The committee passed the series of bills by 11-3 votes without debate, sending them to the full Senate. Similar bills have passed the Senate before but were killed in subcommittee in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has advocated for a ban on smoking in all restaurants, saying that the government must protect residents from unhealthy secondhand smoke. Despite House opposition in the past, Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said the governor hoped for a better outcome this year.

Opponents argue the government has no right to make decisions for private businesses and that a smoking ban could further damage businesses already crippled by a crumbling economy.

Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Altria Group, the parent company of Richmond-based Philip Morris, said Virginia does not need to mandate a smoking ban because the state's restaurants already have the right to restrict smoking, as many do.

"Business owners are the most familiar with how to accommodate the needs of their customers, and they should have the flexibility to determine their own smoking policy," Phelps said.

Sens. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and Frederick Quayle, R-Suffolk, propose allowing localities to enact smoking bans.

Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple's bill would ban smoking in public buildings and other areas. It would not apply in private homes, automobiles and businesses, private clubs, hotel rooms designated for smoking, tobacco stores and manufacturers, and in private and semiprivate rooms in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Failure to comply would result in a $100 fine.

Democrat Sens. Ralph Northam and Richard Saslaw's bill would prohibit smoking in all indoor restaurants. Violators would face a $25 fine.

Alie Kvitek, 24, works as a bartender at two different restaurants in Richmond, sometimes spending 40 to 60 hours each week in smoke-filled rooms serving drinks.

She moved to Richmond from California, where smoking in restaurants is banned. Already, she can tell a difference in her health - itchy eyes, coughing, sneezing, headaches - that she attributes to spending too much time around smoke.

"I just think that other people's choice to smoke shouldn't affect my choice to live a healthy lifestyle," she said after the votes.

A House of Delegates subcommittee rejected two bills yesterday that sought to increase Virginia's cigarette excise tax, including Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's proposal to double the tax to 60 cents per pack.

The House Finance subcommittee voted 8-2 to table that bill. The panel unanimously dismissed another bill backed by public-health groups that would have increased the tax to $1.19 per pack.

The proposal is not dead, however, as other bills to increase the cigarette tax are pending in the General Assembly. The cigarette-tax bills failed yesterday despite arguments from public-health groups and other advocates that increasing the tax would reduce youth smoking rates and raise hundreds of millions in revenue to pay for Medicaid costs.

"It is good for public health, and it is good for our fiscal situation," said Del. David L. Englin, D-Alexandria, who sponsored the bill to increase the tax by 89 cents to $1.19 per pack, the national average.

Opponents, including tobacco-company lobbyists, argued a tax increase would threaten industry jobs and hurt retailers. ...

The subcommittee advanced legislation that would change the state's excise tax on moist snuff tobacco from a price-based to a weight-based formula.

That legislation has set off a battle within the tobacco industry, with two locally based companies on opposite sides of the issue.

It has the backing of Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc., which recently acquired the nation's top manufacturer of premium-priced moist snuff products, UST Inc.

Altria Group Inc., the parent company of cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, argues a weight-based formula is the most fair way to tax smokeless products, but the legislation is opposed by Chesterfield County-based Swedish Match North America, a maker of value-priced snuff brands, which argues the legislation would increase the cost of less expensive brands and benefit Altria's premium products.

Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Reynolds-American Inc., Altria's largest competitor and a maker of smokeless tobacco, also is fighting the change.

A Virginia House of Delegates subcommittee defeated a proposal by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) to double the tax on cigarettes in a state where the tobacco industry pumps millions of dollars and thousands of jobs into the economy.

The Senate will vote on an identical bill next week, leaving open the possibility that the legislature's budget negotiators could still consider the tobacco tax as a source of revenue for the state's cash-starved $77 billion, two-year budget.

If legislators reject the idea of raising the state's tax on cigarettes from 30 to 60 cents per pack, they will have to find another way to come up with $148 million to pay for Medicaid at a time when the state faces a shortfall of at least $2.9 billion.

Wednesday's 8 to 2 vote by the House Finance Committee panel was a blow to the governor, but Republicans and Democrats said they oppose raising taxes on a single industry during tight economic times, especially when that industry provides the state with so much money.

Del. James P. Massie III (R-Henrico) said he was opposed for several reasons, including wanting to protect one of the world's largest cigarette makers, Philip Morris, which in recent years has moved its headquarters to Richmond and opened a research center there.

"It violates my basic sense of fairness to . . . turn around and double the tax on them," Massie said.

... "We continue to believe that the tax . . . could negatively impact Virginia manufacturers and tobacco growers and retailers and the jobs that they provide," Altria spokesman Bill Phelps said.

Del. Robert H. Brink (D-Arlington), who introduced the bill on Kaine's behalf, said he did not intend to "demonize" tobacco.

"I recognize the important role of tobacco and cigarette companies in the commonwealth's economy," Brink said. "The reason I did it is I am very concerned about the effect of not enacting this increase on the state's Medicaid budget."

A second proposal, to raise the tobacco tax by 89 cents a pack to bring it up to the national average, was unanimously defeated.

The tobacco tax's future remains uncertain. Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) supports the increase, but House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) opposes it. Both men will have considerable influence in writing the state's final budget.

Kaine's proposal would generate about $148 million a year, though that could diminish in future years if more people stopped smoking. The national average tax is $1.20 per pack. Forty-six states impose a higher tax on cigarettes than Virginia does.

"It's unfortunate they made this decision without proposing an alternative solution," said Gordon Hickey, Kaine's spokesman. "If this stands, the House is going to have to find $150 million more in Medicaid cuts, and that will certainly harm Virginia's most vulnerable residents."

If approved, a cigarette tax increase would be Virginia's second in five years. In 2004, the General Assembly raised the tax from 2.5 cents, the nation's lowest at the time, to 30 cents.

Groups representing doctors, hospitals and educators support the bill. Some cite health reasons, and others do not want their budgets cut further.

Supporters of stricter indoor-smoking laws and higher cigarette taxes in Virginia turned out yesterday to lobby state lawmakers.

About 150 volunteers descended on the Capitol, urging legislators to vote for bills that would crack down on smoking in workplaces and increase the state's cigarette tax to $1.20 from 30 cents per pack. A coalition of public-health groups organized the effort.

"In Virginia, where tobacco is such a significant part of our history, it can take a lot of courage to stand up for smoke-free legislation," Del. David L. Englin, D-Alexandria, told volunteers ... "You represent the 75 percent of Virginians who want to see this happen."

Englin is carrying legislation in the House of Delegates proposed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine that would prohibit smoking in all restaurants. At least 13 other bills dealing with indoor smoking have been introduced, including three that would impose broad restrictions on smoking in indoor, public areas.

The legislation faces opposition from some business groups and tobacco companies, such as Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc, parent company of cigarette-maker Philip Morris USA. Opponents argue that state-imposed restrictions are unnecessary, because restaurants and other workplaces can go smoke-free voluntarily.

"I respect people's right to choose to smoke, but this is about the environment that we all share," said Elizabeth Thomas, a Richmond resident who said she volunteered because her grandmother, a smoker, died at 67 from emphysema and heart failure.

Another volunteer, John O'Donnell, said he was speaking out for musicians exposed to secondhand smoke in clubs. "It is virtually impossible to make a living as a musician playing smoke-free venues alone," said O'Donnell, a Richmond resident and a drummer with the Rachel Leyco Band.

Advocates are focusing their lobbying in the House of Delegates, where similar bills have failed in past legislative sessions, mostly killed in a six-member subcommittee of the House General Laws committee. Supporters believe the bills will get more favorable treatment this year from the new chairman of General Laws, Del. S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk.

In an interview yesterday, Jones said he has not decided yet how to handle the bills, but he does support further restrictions on smoking in restaurants.

State Del. David Englin, a Democrat who represents the 45th District in Northern Virginia, filed legislation Monday for the 2009 General Assembly session in the hopes of banning smoking in restaurants and bars statewide. It’s a measure this newspaper has supported in the past and still advocates unabashedly.

Our support is simple. As Englin noted when filing the bill, the measure is aimed at protecting the health and safety of restaurant workers, as well as patrons.

While a similar measure died last year, the majority of Virginia voters support the effort, according to a recent survey by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Some findings:

* 75 percent of Virginia voters support a statewide law to ban smoking inside all public buildings and workplaces, including offices, restaurants and bars.

* 66 percent say they would strongly support a statewide smoke-free law.

* 82 percent, including 58 percent of smokers, believe the rights of customers and employees to breathe clean air in restaurants and bars is more important than the right of smokers to smoke in these places.

* 88 percent of Virginia voters agree that workers should be protected from second-hand smoke in the workplace.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine was in Englin’s district Tuesday and announced his 2009 legislative agenda in Arlington. It includes a proposal for smoke-free restaurants statewide.

This is an effort that gained some momentum but died last year. We are optimistic to see it revived as a statewide plan. It is the only way to see real gains in Virginia on this issue.

Smoking patterns vary by region. As recently noted by U.S. News & World Report, the Bristol-Kingsport region is the second-highest region in the country for cigarette smoking. Not surprisingly, smoking-related illnesses also are sky-high here.

Perhaps other regions of Virginia are more likely to embrace a statewide smoking ban, but this region has been slower to show support. But the smoking ban is not about pitting regions against each other. As Englin and other longtime supporters have noted, it’s about health. Wait staff, bartenders and bussers cannot get away from second-hand smoke on the job. And no matter how smoking sections are designed, the smoke wafts over to non-smoking areas.

We cannot say the health of employees is more important in one part of Virginia than another. It’s not. The ban should be a statewide initiative, so all employers operate under the same set of rules and all employees derive the same benefits.

... We expect Englin’s bill will have enthusiastic backers and equally vigorous detractors, some of whom will claim the ban hurts the restaurant business or the tobacco industry or personal freedoms.

We say health is more important, especially for those who cannot get away from the smoke created in their workplaces. And across Virginia, business has grown for restaurants that have chosen to go smoke-free.

Smokers like to smoke. We understand that. But they must find places to do it away from others who don’t want their health affected.

As Englin noted in announcing his bill: “Especially in today’s economy, it is wrong to force restaurant workers to choose between their jobs or breathing cancer-causing second-hand smoke.”

Englin’s bill is for a statewide ban, but he expects other lawmakers to file bills for regional or local smoking bans in restaurants and bars. We do not support regional or local measures, which would likely leave some parts of Virginia with “smoking” restaurants and bars and others with ones that are smoke-free.

We support the statewide ban and hope the General Assembly will reflect the majority will of the people on this issue.

Overwhelmingly, Virginia voters support a ban in restaurants and bars. The time has come for Virginia to take this important step for the health of all.

State lawmakers are taking another crack at banning smoking in restaurants, hoping this year's General Assembly will be friendlier than in the past.

In Arlington County today, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is expected to propose a statewide restaurant smoking ban as part of his 2009 legislative agenda.

Yesterday, Del. David L. Englin, D-Alexandria, filed legislation that would prohibit smoking in all indoor restaurants and bar and lounge areas. A violation would carry a $25 civil penalty.

"Especially in today's economy, it is wrong to force restaurant workers to choose between their jobs or breathing cancer-causing secondhand smoke," Englin said.

... Advocates say it's a public health issue the government needs to address. Some restaurant industry representatives say businesses know what's best for them. They say that if customers don't want to frequent restaurants that allow smoking, that will force the eateries to change their policies.

Kaine will seek smoking restrictions as he urges lawmakers to double the cigarette tax to 60 cents per pack.

Among the factors giving Englin hope for this upcoming session is that the House General Laws Committee, where smoking bills have perished, will have a new chairman. Del. S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, the incoming committee chairman, could not be reached for comment.

... Other lawmakers are expected to introduce smoking-ban legislation, Englin said, including attempts at regional bans. It's important to many Northern Virginians, he said, because of its proximity to Washington, which prohibits smoking in restaurants.

"What we don't want is to become the region's ashtray," he said.

We all know the dangers of smoking cigarettes, however people still die every day because cigarettes had control over their lives. This fact is why the Virginia Organizing Project supports the tax increase on cigarettes. The tax increase is highly effective for prevention. We need to protect our younger generation. More than 3,500 children try their first cigarette every day. Another 1,000 become daily smokers, and one-third of them will die prematurely as a result. Research is clear that increasing the price of cigarettes through tobacco taxes is one of the most effective ways to reduce youth smoking. Many families are hit hard by the cost of smoking-related illnesses and others suffer the lost of family members. Even if higher cigarette prices encourage just some smokers to quit, it is worth it to them and their families. We need to stand up to tobacco companies, and this is a start.

Also, the revenue collected contributes to state programs, such as providing health care to those who are uninsured. With rising costs in health care, the state needs to provide funds to help people who cannot afford medical bills. Tax increases on cigarettes could help with this.

National and state polls across the country show overwhelming public support for tobacco tax increases. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia have increased their taxes since Jan. 1, 2002. It is time for Virginia to do the same. Increasing the tobacco tax is a win-win solution for states: a public health win that reduces smoking and saves lives, a financial win that raises needed revenue and reduces health care costs caused from smoking, and a political win because tobacco taxes have the strong support of the public. Just remember the higher the tax, the more lives saved. Please support the tax increase!

It’s that time of year again when the legislature which was allegedly elected to represent the people plays its games and utterly defies both the public will and the public good. Yet again the General Assembly will deal with the issue of public smoking restrictions, including restaurants.

Four bills which would have provided such a ban either statewide or locally passed the full Senate last year, three of them by a three-to-one margin. For the third straight year, all four were temporarily killed by a six-member House of Delegates subcommittee.

One member of the subcommittee is Del. Dan Bowling, a Democrat who represents Buchanan County and parts of Russell and Tazewell counties. When an interviewer for a local newspaper asked his reason for opposing the legislation last year, he replied that the Republicans (yes, Republicans) wanted it to be defeated unanimously. Perhaps the contributions which Big Tobacco stuffed into his pocket influenced him well.

Surveys consistently show that 75 percent to 80 percent of Virginians support a restaurant smoking ban, so it would seem presumptuous for legislators such as Del. Bowling to ignore the wishes of those who elected them. I suppose that this fall he will be pumping his hands and bragging about how he has defended his constituents’ interests, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

When lawmakers attain this level of arrogance, there is but one solution. Unless Del. Bowling reverses course, voters should show him the door this Nov. 3.

House Speaker William J. Howell so surprised his fellow Republican delegates by changing his mind and supporting a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars that his second in command broke ranks and refused to back him.

House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith's dissent provided a glimpse of what some Republicans describe as a long-simmering divide within their caucus. The tensions have worsened as Republicans have debated how to maintain their majority in a state that has been trending from red to blue.

Many delegates say they are frustrated that Howell negotiated a deal for a ban they oppose philosophically and handed a victory to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who had made a smoking ban a priority for years.

"I'm disappointed in him," Del. Thomas D. Gear (R-Hampton) said.

Some are privately questioning Howell's leadership but said they might wait until after November, when all 100 House seats are up for election, before deciding whether to start searching for a new speaker.

Republicans have lost 11 seats since Howell (Stafford) became speaker in 2003. If they lose six more seats, Democrats will take control of the chamber for the first time in almost a decade.

Griffith (Salem), who voted against the smoking ban bill last week, said his caucus has largely recovered from the rift caused by the issue. But he said the fall elections will be a crucial barometer of the strength of the party leadership.

"Whenever you have a loss of seats, there is always the potential that any member of leadership can be thrown out," Griffith said.

Howell became speaker seven years ago in the wake of a scandal in which his predecessor paid a woman $100,000 to cover up his unwanted sexual advances. Now, most delegates say they would never challenge him without knowing they had the votes to remove him.

"I don't worry about it one bit, not one bit," Howell said in an interview. "I've had this job for seven years, and I've been through some pretty difficult times."

Howell said that if delegates want to vote for a new speaker next year, they should feel free to do so. But he defends his decision to deal with Kaine and the Democratic-controlled Senate, saying that it was right for the state and that two-thirds of his leadership team agreed.

"Anytime you have a diverse group, people are going to question your leadership," Howell said. "You're going to have different opinions."

Some conservative Republican activists from around the state say they have harbored concerns about Howell since 2004, when he did not stop then-Gov. Mark R. Warner's $1.4 billion tax increase. Three years later, he supported a controversial transportation package that some opposed because it led to another tax increase. ...

"We feel fundamentally betrayed on the principles," said Gary Byler, chairman of the 2nd Congressional District Republican Committee in Hampton Roads. "There's been an underlying resentment from some of the core constituencies that have been given short shrift."

They say Howell, a conservative who has been in the House two decades, has not given enough attention to anti-tax, anti-abortion and school choice advocates.

"Conservatives expect the speaker to act like a conservative," said Ben Marchi, state director of Americans for Prosperity, an anti-tax group that supports limited government and free trade.

Two weeks ago, when Howell announced in a closed-door caucus meeting that he would allow the smoking ban bill to proceed to the House floor, many delegates were upset. Some opposed the bill because they consider it an assault on individual freedom, and others were upset that Howell took up an issue that a majority of his caucus opposes.

"There were some who were not just disappointed, but angry. There was a frustration," said Ben L. Cline (R-Rockbridge), House chairman of the Conservative Caucus. "Now, there's just disappointment."

Several prominent Republican activists wrote to GOP delegates, urging them to oppose a bill they say would "create a divide between members and the Republican base."

"The speaker's actions do not reflect his caucus's opinion or the party's opinion," said Mike Wade, chairman of the 3rd Congressional District Republican Committee in Hampton, who signed the letter.

Last week, 33 of 55 caucus members voted against the ban. The vote, like many others, split largely between moderates, many in Northern Virginia, and conservatives from mostly rural areas.

Delegates say Howell has been trying gradually to make changes so Democrats will have fewer avenues of attack during the fall campaign. For example, the House is recording votes taken in subcommittee meetings, during which many bills are killed, and is offering live video of floor sessions -- an attempt to eliminate the Democrats' criticism about transparency.

According to delegates who attended the recent caucus meeting on the smoking ban, Howell told them that he was opposed to the prohibition but would back the ban because of the looming elections.

Democrats are salivating at the prospect of turmoil for their Republican colleagues.

"Clearly, when you're in a battle, it's very important that your forces not be divided amongst themselves," House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Henry) said. "The House Republican caucus is very much divided among itself right now . . . and that does not bode well for them in the fall campaign."

[Web Editor's Note: It is rumored that if Democrats win control of the House of Delegates, the new Speaker would be Ward Armstrong, who has usually voted pro-tobacco. Until the House reduces the power of the office of Speaker, games will continue to be played on many important issues, since the Speaker has the power to save or kill a bill just by determining the members and chairpersons of committees, which committee bills are sent to, etc.]

In downtown Raleigh, just a few blocks from the state legislative building, a trendy new bar opened last month.

It's called Tobacco Road. But the entire bar is smoke-free.

These days, that bit of irony isn't an isolated case. For smokers, and for the tobacco industry that has been critical to the state's economy for centuries, the landscape is rapidly changing.

"Our consumers certainly face an increasingly finite number of situations, whether they be social situations or work situations, where they feel comfortable smoking," said Maura Payne, a spokeswoman for Reynolds American Inc.

Changing social views of smoking are accompanied by dwindling political support for tobacco companies. For years, Reynolds and the other major tobacco players enjoyed a sort of home-field advantage in North Carolina politics. But 2009 is shaping up to be a tough year for tobacco in the nation's largest tobacco-producing state.

Here are some of the recent developments:

□ Last week, a powerful legislator in the N.C. House of Representatives renewed his push to ban smoking in restaurants and indoor workplaces across North Carolina.

□ In the N.C. Senate, another powerful legislator wants to raise taxes on cigarettes this year.

□ At the federal level, former Sen. Elizabeth Dole, a staunch supporter of tobacco companies, has been replaced by Sen. Kay Hagan, who voted last week in favor of a federal tax increase on tobacco in order to pay for children's health insurance.

North Carolina's policymakers are increasingly arguing that the health hazards of smoking outweigh the state's important tobacco heritage.

"I know that this state has a rich history of growing tobacco, and we love our farmers and we respect them," said state Rep. Jennifer Weiss, D-Wake. But, she added, "this is about the health and safety of workers in our state."

Weiss was referring to the proposed smoking ban in indoor workplaces. The bill's chief author is Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson, a survivor of lung cancer.

Two years ago, a similar bill filed by Holliman was narrowly defeated in the House. This year, it is expected to face another tough fight. But even groups that have strongly opposed smoking bans in the past -- such as the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association -- are taking a softer position this year.

Paul Stone, the president and chief executive of the restaurant association, said he believes that some type of smoking ban in North Carolina is inevitable.

As Holliman makes his push for a smoking ban, some other state legislators want to raise state taxes on cigarettes this year. The chief supporter is Sen. Marc Basnight, the leader of the N.C. Senate, who also wants to raise taxes on alcohol.

Such tax increases would have a small effect on closing the state's budget gap, but Basnight said that his main reason for supporting them is not to raise revenue but to lower the state's health-care costs.

Despite these broad anti-tobacco efforts, the tobacco industry remains powerful, and continues to be a major player in North Carolina politics through campaign contributions and lobbying.

Sen. Linda Garrou, D-Forsyth, defended the tobacco industry last week. Garrou, a chief lieutenant of Basnight, is nearly always in agreement with him. But she opposes increasing the tax on cigarettes.

Garrou, whose district includes the Winston-Salem headquarters of Reynolds, said that Congress is on the verge of raising the federal cigarette tax. That's the tax that Hagan supported last week. North Carolina's other senator, Republican Richard Burr, opposed it.

"It's going to be hard for us (state government) to raise taxes as well" on tobacco companies, Garrou said, "if we're going to keep these fine corporate citizens, keep the jobs and keep the money in our state."

Basnight said he understood Garrou's position in opposing increased state cigarette taxes.

"And I would, too, if I represented Winston-Salem," he said.

Payne, the Reynolds spokeswoman, said that the company still believes it has good support in the General Assembly, despite this year's proposals.

"I think in the North Carolina legislature there is very broad and deep understanding of the importance of tobacco, both historically and economically, to the state," she said.

But she also acknowledged that the political environment is changing. More legislators are willing to consider tax increases on cigarettes, she said, and a number of other North Carolina laws in recent years have outlawed smoking in places as varied as prisons, adult-care homes and state-government automobiles.

2009 NEWS Excerpts -- Virginia Clean Indoor Air