Proponents of a statewide smoking ban in restaurants, bars and work places acknowledged defeat on the issue Thursday, but vowed to pursue it again in the 2009 session.
"Two years from now, more states will be smoke-free, more Texas communities will have passed local smoke-free ordinances and thousands more Texans will be ill or dead from second-hand smoke exposure," said Kirsten Voinis, spokeswoman for Smoke-Free Texas, a coalition that includes the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and Texas PTA.
The House passed a weakened version of the ban that still would have allowed business property owners to allow smoking on their property. The version never came up for a vote in the Senate.
Seventeen states, including California and New York, have comprehensive smoking bans as well as Texas cities Houston, Austin, El Paso and others.
Second-hand smoke causes lung cancer, heart disease, low birth rate and other chronic lung problems and kills 53,000 Americans a year, according to Smoke-Free Texas.
