12:07 PM CDT on Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Associated Press

BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana should ban smoking in all restaurants but not in bars, a Senate committee voted on Wednesday, despite objections from the restaurant industry.

Sen. Rob Marionneaux introduced a similar plan last year that was voted down by the full Senate, partly because it included a provision to also outlaw smoking in casinos. This year's version has no such exemption, improving its chances of eventually becoming law.

Marionneaux, D-Livonia, cited polls that found a solid majority of Louisiana residents favor a restaurant smoking ban.

Jim Funk, head of the Louisiana Restaurant Association, complained that the plan favors bars over restaurants, which would lose business from smokers.

The Senate and Governmental Affairs committee passed the measure without objection, sending it to the full Senate.

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On the Net: http://legis.state.la.us/

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)