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MA Senate OK's Workplace Smoking Ban [05/30 -7]

Excerpts from: Senate OK's a workplace smoking ban

By Rick Klein Boston Globe [05/30/03]

Conference panel to weigh statewide plan

The state Senate approved a statewide ban last night on smoking in the workplace, a measure that proponents say would improve the health of thousands of employees of bars and restaurants in Massachusetts because they would no longer have to breathe second-hand smoke.
Backers of the ban applauded the move as a huge step forward for public health. The measure, approved on a voice vote as an amendment to the Senate's version of the state budget, would make Massachusetts the fifth state in the nation to enact a statewide ban.

''We have all the evidence in the world; we know it's bad,'' Senator Steven A. Tolman, a Brighton Democrat, said of secondhand smoke. ''This bill would make 100 percent of bars and restaurants smoke free.''