Georgia governor approves a statewide smoking ban

<p>Gov. Sonny Perdue approved a bill Monday that will ban smoking in most public buildings in Georgia, ending a guessing game he had fueled for weeks by saying he was undecided over the measure.</p><p>The law will allow smokers to light up only in a handful of places, including bars and restaurants which do not admit persons under 18. Violators of the law will be fined between $100 and $500.</p><p>Perdue had said for weeks that he had misgivings about the bill, believing that government should not become "the end-all and be-all nanny for all people."</p><p>His decision to sign the bill into law came just one day short of the deadline for him to sign or veto bills passed during the most recent session of the state Legislature.</p><p>The original bill would have banned tobacco smoking in virtually all public buildings. It was amended in the Georgia House to exempt bars and restaurants and a few other places, including:</p><p>_Private homes.</p><p>_Hotel and motel rooms designated for smokers, up to a maximum of 20 percent of the rooms in any hotel or motel.</p><p>_Retail tobacco stores.</p><p>_Long-term care facilities.</p><p>_Smoking areas in international airports.</p><p>_Meeting rooms at convention facilities which are not owned or operated by the state or by any of its political subdivisions.</p><p>_Smoking areas designed by an employer which have an independent air handling system.</p><p>Of 14 tobacco-growing states surveyed by the National Conference of State Legislatures, only Florida has as broad a ban as the new Georgia law provides.</p>

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