News-Record.com

The vote tallies and amendment language for H2, the workplace smoking ban, have been attached to the bill's NCGA information page.

Background here and here.

And here's the AP story.

The bottom line: The House Wednesday gave tentative approval to a workplace smoking ban that will cover bars and restaurants.

Rep. Nelson Cole offered an amendment that would let some bars and restaurants opt out if they post signs warning that smoking was allowed and do not employ or serve anyone under 18.

Update: Click here for my story from Thursday's paper that explains why the change could be problematic.

For those who didn't listen live and want a flavor of the debate, the following are some audio clips. (You can hear a recording of the entire day's session here.)

• *Click here to listen to Rep. Hugh Holliman introduce the bill.

• *Click here to listen to Rep. Jeff Barnhart explain his support for the smoking bill. Barnhart's father died of lung cancer. He was a non-smoker but worked in an office full of smokers.

• *Rep. Alma Adams, who gave up smoking after 30 years, supports the smoking ban. Click here to listen to her comments.

• *Rep. Nelson Cole says that the original version of H2 was too strict. He offered an amendment that would let bars and restaurants opt out of the smoking ban if they posted signs and excluded minors from working or being served. Click here to listen to him give his rationale.

• *Rep. Johnathan Rhyne, Jr. supported Cole's amendment. His was one of the better offerings in support of Cole's amendment and against the main bill. Click here to listen.

• *Rep. David Lewis's comments prompted a lot of feed-back as I was live-blogging the vote. "Somehow we've become convinced in this chamber that people don't have enough sense to make decisions for themselves." Click here to listen.

• *Click here for the end of the debate. The clip picks up in the middle of Rep. Dale Folwell's remarks opposing the bill, moves into Rep. Hugh Holliman's closing statement and ends with the vote.