News-Record.com

I just shipped this story re: the smoking ban to our news site:

The North Carolina Senate voted 26-18 to ban smoking in bars and restaurants, passing a weakened version of a workplace smoking ban.

“It was much less restrictive than the original bill,” said Sen. Don Vaughan, a Greensboro Democrat who voted for the compromise legislation.

Vaughan was among numerous Democrats and a majority of Republicans who sided against a more sweeping bill that would have banned smoking in virtually all workplaces. When Senate leaders determined they didn’t have the votes to pass that measure, they reworked the bill into the weaker form.

The House has already passed a version of the smoking ban. It is more broad but has major loopholes for bars.

Rep. Hugh Holliman, a Lexington Democrat and the bill’s author, said it was unlikely the House would accept the Senate version of the bill. Rather, he said, the bill would go to a conference committee. Such committees rework legislation into a single version that is then sent to both chambers for a final vote.

Locally, Sens. Don Vaughan, a Greensboro Democrat, and Stan Bingham, a Denton Republican, voted for the bill.

Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, voted against.

Sen. Katie Dorsett, a Greensboro Democrat, was absent but "paired" her vote, which means she was able to support the bill by canceling out the vote of a colleague on the other side of the issue. In this case, Dorsett paired with Sen. Andrew Brock of Mocksville, who would have been a no vote.