Kentucky lawmaker sponsors statewide smoking ban; key advocate says it won't pass this year

A legislator introduced a bill today that would impose a statewide smoking ban in workplaces, restaurants, bars and private clubs in Kentucky, "where residents smoke at the nation's highest rate and tobacco-related illnesses exact a heavy toll," The Courier-Journal's Laura Ungar reports. In Kentucky, 25.6 percent of adults smoke, the same rate as in West Virginia. The state has long had more tobacco farmers than any other state, but that is in doubt as tobacco production has declined and consolidated.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, and is supported by Smoke Free Kentucky, "a coalition of local, state and national health advocates," Ungar reports. "We feel like the time has come to make sure everyone across the state is protected," said Amy Barkley, a regional director for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "There's absolutely no reason for anyone to be exposed to secondhand smoke."

In Kentucky, 28 communities have passed smoking ordinances, 26 of which have already taken effect, Ungar reports. Nationwide, 29 states and Washington, D.C. have passed comprehensive smoking bans. Four other states have smoke-free laws that include restaurants but allow tobacco use in bars.

Dr. Ellen Hahn, who runs the Tobacco Policy Research Program at the University of Kentucky and has been instrumental in getting smoking bans passed in Kentucky communities, said she does not believe the statewide ban will pass this year "because such proposals typically don't" on the first go-round, she told Ungar. State Rep. Tom Burch of Louisville, who chairs the House Committee on Health and Welfare, said he plans to sign on as a sponsor of the legislation. He told Kentucky Health News he will give the bill a "favorable hearing" in his committee. KHN is a new, sister service of The Rural Blog; click here for that report, the initial version of this one. For useful information, including maps, regarding smoking-ban legislation nationwide, go here.