YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Restaurant association backs statewide smoking ban
By Julie Goodmanjgoodman@clarionledger.com

The Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association says it will support a bill for a statewide smoking ban, in part, because it would allow smoking in age-restricted bars with closed-off areas. It also would prohibit new municipal bans, helping give all restaurants a level playing field.Given the current national trend — which has communities adopting more and more anti-smoking measures — the head of the association said it is better to look at a statewide bill now than deal with dozens of municipal bans.“Given the current political climate, it’s in our best interest to look at a state ban,” said Mike Cashion, the association’s executive director.The bill was filed by Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, whose committee plans to hold a hearing on the issue. In addition to the smoking ban bill, the Senate also filed legislation that would get rid of state Health Officer Brian Amy and reconstitute the state Board of Health, making his position a cabinet-level job to be filled by the governor. It was filed today just before the chambers prepared to assemble for Gov. Haley Barbour’s State of the State speech.Lawmakers also had a moment of silence today for state Rep. Leonard Morris, who died Friday of complications from kidney surgery.The smoking ban bill would amount to a compromise in which virtually every restaurant would be smoke free, but would have the option of closing off bar areas where customers could light up, Cashion said.There has been a dramatic decrease in revenue in some of the restaurants, especially ones with bars, which have banned smoking, he said.The legislation would prohibit municipalities from creating smoking bans, but existing ones would be grandfathered in. Inconsistencies can give one restaurant in one city an advantage over another in an adjacent city, as smokers opt to go where they can smoke, he said.The legislation also says that if a restaurant owner is following the law, he or she cannot be held responsible if a customer lights up in a smoke-free area.