Apr. 6--DAVIDSON COUNTY -- A N.C. representative who wants the statewide smoking ban repealed may have an uphill battle ahead.
State Rep. Jerry Dockham, R-Davidson, said during a candidate forum on Tuesday that he will fight to get the ban repealed.
The legislation, which took effect this year and requires almost all indoor areas of restaurants and bars in the state smoke-free, was spearheaded by Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson.
Holliman, the N.C. House majority leader and a lung cancer survivor, fought for years to get the law passed. Dockham can't introduce a bill repealing the smoking ban until the N.C. House's long session in January, according to Holliman.
"I don't think it's going to be repealed," Holliman said. "It's widely popular ... We have debated the issue. The more we talked about the health aspects of it, the more people become convinced that we need to do this."
While Holliman is an advocate of the bill because of health reasons, Dockham believes its wrong for the state to tell business owner what they can or can not do on their property. Dockham said he believes very strongly in property rights and suggests that it should be a "common courtesy" for smokers to refrain from lighting up and sit beside somebody who doesn't smoke.
Matthew DeSantis, assistant professor at High Point University, said it's "going to be a really big uphill battle" for Dockham to get the smoking ban repealed.
"There was a fair amount of support for the legislation initially," he said. "Now, once it's enacted, it's very rare to see these sorts of things repealed. If you look across the board at all the other states that have instituted smoking bans, all the repeal efforts have really been rather futile."
dignasiak@hpe.com -- 888-3657
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