Sniffing out violators of Pennsylvania’s smoking ban will fall on the shoulders of people bothered by the smoke.

“It’s not going to be a ‘gotcha’ — it’s not a plan of the (state) Department of Health to have teams of people that go into places” looking for violations, said Cindy Thomas, director of Tobacco Free Allegheny, which administers and manages localtobacco prevention and cessation programs. “Enforcement is going to be reactive, not proactive.”  read more »

The Pennsylvania state senate has rejected, for the time being at least, a compromise bill that would have banned smoking in most workplaces and public spaces across the commonwealth.

The chamber voted 31-19 against the measure after Democratic senators complained that it does not allow Allegheny County and Scranton, which had approved local bans, to enforce stronger ordinances (see previous story). But a court struck down Allegheny County’s last year, and Scranton never enforced its own, fearing a similar fate.

The bill would have barred every county and municipality, with the exception of Philadelphia, from enacting its own smoking ban. It would let stand Philadelphia’s year-and-a-half-old ban, the only active local smoking ordinance in the state.  read more »