http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illin...01441E6?OpenDocument



From the article;

"Sometimes civil action begins in a rural bar called Fat's, where an ashtray sat on every table and the smoke hovered wall to wall.

About 200 people including bar owners, VFW members and patrons filled Fat's on Monday night for a tavern-hall meeting to discuss overturning or amending Illinois' statewide smoking ban established this year.

And as speaker after speaker insisted that people's rights were being stripped away, the crowd smoked. Inside.

On Jan. 1, Illinois became the 22nd state to pass a statewide indoor smoking ban, which prohibits smoking inside or within 15 feet of most public buildings. Boog Walker, owner of Fat's, stopped allowing smoking when the ban took effect, but it cut into business. Now if customers ask for an ashtray, he'll slip them one."

(SNIP)

"Some state lawmakers are seeking exemptions to the ban"

Another one? This will be interesting. Hopefully, some people are figuring out what a pantload all this is.

Question; Could we be seeing a slow trend toward ban reversal beginning to start, one small step at a time?

Sadly,I do not think that these local small protests will have much impact on the lawmakers. Here are the numbers for some of the money they received in 2006, I do not have the numbers for 2007(when they voted on SB500).
Gary K.

2006 CONTRIBUTIONS BY MAJOR SUPPORTERS OF SB500
PROPONENTS--- TOTAL
Illinois State Medical Society-- $1,229,155
Illinois State Dental Society-- $368,968
Professional Independent Insurance Agents-- $167,220
Health Care Service Corporation (Blue Cross/Blue Shield)-- $66,500
Illinois Society for Advanced Practice Nursing-- $41,700
Order of Saint Francis Health System-- $41,270
Illinois Nurses Association-- $40,500
Illinois Pharmacists Association-- $28,635
TOTAL $1,983,948

quote:

Could we be seeing a slow trend toward ban reversal beginning to start, one small step at a time?

Count on it. I for one wont shutup about it til these bans r gone.

Perhaps,one smallstep at a time is happening.
On the news today:
Gary K.

The package delivery case could provide the impetus for the transportation industry to get out from under state laws regulating cigarette deliveries in the Internet age.

The court unanimously invalidated parts of a Maine law that bars Internet tobacco sales to minors.

The justices said the state cannot impose a regulatory scheme on transportation companies delivering tobacco products directly to consumers. The justices said federal transportation law prevents state-by-state regulation.

"Despite the importance of the public health objective, we cannot agree" with Maine's approach, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote. He said federal law "says nothing about a public health exception" enabling state regulation.

Federal law bars states from regulating prices, routes or services of shipping companies.

Thirty-one states besides Maine have cigarette delivery laws targeting the problem of underage smokers.

Maine's law requires delivery companies to intercept packages from unlicensed tobacco sellers and to verify the age of buyers. This requirement hits delivery companies with huge additional costs, the industry said.

Wednesday's ruling could enable the industry to argue that similar laws in other states are invalid. The decision could clear the way for companies to challenge an aggressive campaign by New York that led the industry's biggest players to stop shipping cigarettes directly to consumers from illegal Internet sellers.

The case is Rowe v. New Hampshire Motor Transport Association, 06-457.