Michigan Group Fights State's Smoking Ban
LANSING, Mich. (WBBM/CBS) -- On Saturday, the statewide Illinois smoking ban will have been in effect for three years.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Regine Schlesinger reports, a more recent one in Michigan is running into resistance.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Regine Schlesinger Reports
Podcast
The Michigan smoking ban has been in effect since May 1. As in Illinois, smoking is prohibited in most indoor places.
The ban is not sitting well with some Michigan bar owners, who plan to stage a protest at 9 p.m. Friday.
Steve Mace, a spokesman for Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based protest organizing group Protect Private Property Rights in Michigan, tells the Lansing State Journal that bars will not necessarily promote smoking, but they won't be stopping people either.
He tells the newspaper that some bars might put out ashtrays for the first time since the ban went into effect, while others might actually encourage patrons to light up. Mace's group wants lawmakers to know that banning smoking is bad for business, the newspaper reported.
Contrary to Mace's claims, state officials say their studies don't show a drop in sales at bars as a result of the smoking ban, the newspaper reported.
Bars that violate the smoking ban could face a $100 fine for the first offense, and a $500 fine after that, the newspaper reported.
Ed Deeb, president of the state's Food and Beverage Association, says bars are struggling to stay in business since the ban took effect.
The Illinois smoking ban took effect on Jan. 1, 2008. In the time since, it has met with little resistance, except from casinos, which are campaigning for an exemption to the ban in which they would be allowed to set up segregated smoking areas.
Legislation is pending in the state House to allow the casino exemption.
