Gov. Timothy M. Kaine today formally signed into law legislation that will ban smoking in nearly all public restaurants in Virginia.
Seated in a Virginia Beach restaurant that has already made the switch to smoke-free dining, Kaine signed Senate Bill 1105 and its companion legislation, House Bill 1703. The law takes effect on Dec. 1, 2009.
The new law exempts private clubs from the ban, in addition to those restaurants that establish physically separate and independently ventilated rooms for smokers.
"This reasonable and necessary public health measure has been one of my priorities for several years," Kaine said during a signing cermony at Croc’s 19th Street Bistro, flanked by the bills’ sponsors, Sen. Ralph S. Northam, D-Norfolk and Del. John A. Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake.
"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."
In 2006, Kaine issued an executive order banning smoking in all state buildings.
The passage of the bill this year by the General Assembly was a highlight for the administration, which had been frustrated on other policy fronts, including efforts to further montior firearms sales at gun shows, broaden the rules on who can vote by absentee ballot and advance green energy and conservation measures.
It was also the result of rare bipartisan compromise between the Democratic administration and leadership of the Republican-controlled House of Delegates, which has opposed Kaine on a number of public policy initiatives in the preceding three years of his four-year term in office.
This year, Republicans and Democrats alike would not support Kaine’s bid to close the state’s budget deficit in Medicaid by doubling the tax on packs of cigarettes. But citing mounting evidence of the risk to public health, lawmakers went along with the restaurant smoking ban, approving the measure by comfortbale majorities in the House and Senate.
Statistics compiled by the Virginia Department of Health show that second-hand smoke is responsible for an estimated 1,700 deaths per year.
The new legislation protects workers by stating that restaurant owners cannot compel employees to work in a smoking area. Proprietors must also provide at least one smoke-free entrance to their establishments.
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