State Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, has introduced a bill that would prohibit smoking in restaurants statewide. Rutherford's bill was introduced the same day that the Georgia House approved a bill that would ban smoking inside most indoor buildings.
Georgia lawmakers added exemptions for bars, private rooms in restaurants and businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Georgia's smoking ban now must return to the Senate because of all the House's changes.
The South Carolina bill, which has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, is more narrow than the Georgia bill and would exempt bars and apply only to restaurants.
"I think it's time for us to step up to the plate and ban smoking in restaurants," said Rep. John L. Scott Jr., D-Richland, one of the bill's eight co-sponsors.
Rutherford limited the scope of his bill to restaurants because he said he didn't like to smell smoke while he's eating. He said he did some research on smoking bans elsewhere in the nation and found that daytime business actually increased under a ban, even if in the worst-case scenario nighttime business declined.
He said a market-based approach to curtailing smoking in eateries wasn't feasible from a business owner's perspective.
"There is a restaurant here in Columbia that banned smoking," he said. "Smokers either complained or went somewhere else. We didn't want businesses to be afraid of that."
Scott said the smoking ban is a public health issue and that unless restaurants have an air-filtering system, patrons are still breathing in smoke even if they're not sitting in the smoking section.
"People really think that having separate sections in restaurants helps -- it does not," he said. "Also, when you're in an area where someone is smoking, if you walk outside and sniff your clothes, then you smell like smoke."
State Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, said he could get behind the bill, but he thinks provisions must be made for restaurants that want to offer smoking.
"They have to take personal property rights into account," he said. "It's hard enough to be in business without the government mandating things to you."
State Sen. Scott Richardson and state Rep. Richard Chalk, both Hilton Head Island Republicans, said they were not familiar enough with the bill to comment on it.
Tom Sponseller, president of the Hospitality Association of South Carolina, said that typically restaurateurs oppose smoking bans.
Local restaurant owners and managers had mixed opinions on what kind of impact a smoking ban would have on their businesses.
Cecil Crowley, owner of Wild Wing Cafe, said businesses have been affected in every place that has adopted a smoking ban, whether it be California, New York or Ireland. Although Crowley said he doesn't smoke, he said he doesn't support taking away people's right to do so.
"I believe that people vote with their feet," he said. "If it's too loud, too smoky or too busy, then they leave. We try to accommodate everyone."