Compromise legislation that would snuff out most forms of public smoking, while allowing a stronger ban in Philadelphia to remain in place, is headed for the floor of the state House and Senate.

State House and Senate negotiators voted 5-1 today to break a nearly year-long stalemate that saw lawmakers repeatedly teeter on the brink of a deal, only to have it collapse at the last minute amid the competing interests of private industry and public health.

The so-called “conference report” approved today would allows about a dozen exemptions intended to smooth over those rough patches.

They are:

• small taverns that derive less than 20 percent of their sales from food;
• 25 percent of casino floors, or 50 percent in the case of “economic hardship”;
• private clubs that have been in existence for more than 10 years, and whose officers have voted to allow smoking;
• tobacco shops and tobacco manufacturers;
• cigar bars where tobacco products comprise 15 percent of sales

Still, lawmakers said the bill represented their best chance to pass a ban during the current legislative session.
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