Helping Us Taste the Bite of Death/I Know, I Know My Time has Passed

Hey, Illinois smokers: The door is thataway.

The Illinois House overwhelmingly approved a statewide smoking ban in public places Tuesday that would eliminate a confusing patchwork of local laws and leave smokers in every community with one place in common to light up—outside.

For residents of Chicago, the biggest change is timing: Smokers would have to snuff out their cigarettes in taverns and restaurants with bar areas on Jan. 1, six months earlier than the deadline set by Chicago.

Monique Garcia and Jeffrey Meitrodt have the scene inside the House chamber.

Cheers erupted in the House chambers as Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood), the bill's sponsor, embraced colleagues and slapped high-fives.

"Smokers have a right to smoke, but . . . they should not have a right to force others to breathe their smoke," Yarbrough said. "Government has a right to speak up and step in when the actions of one person harm another."

Reason's copious coverage of smoking laws and bans is collected here, across five pages.