WASHINGTON - Despite hours of often heated debate, members of the D.C Council have passed a smoking ban.
The council approved the ban on Wednesday by a vote of 11 to 1, with one council member absent.
The legislation -- which will take effect January 2007 -- would ban smoking in most places with the exception of hotel rooms, medical research facilities, cigar and hookah bars and tobacco stores.
Bars, restaurants, brew pubs, taverns and nightclubs that earn at least 10-percent of their revenue through tobacco sales would also be exempt.
Councilwoman Carol Schwartz was the only council member to vote against the smoking ban and says she feels good knowing she's "not responsible for taking away civil liberties [from] consenting adults making free choices."
The approval of the smoking ban was "historic," Councilwoman Kathy Patterson says.
"We're moving in a very, very good direction and I'm hoping that with time that we can perhaps even strengthen our smoke-free bill," she says.
The council rejected a slew of amendments, including a proposal by Councilman Adrian Fenty to move up the date the restriction would go into effect to July 2006 instead of January 2007.
Backers of the new measures have been trying since 2004 to pass a ban on smoking in most indoor locations.
(Copyright 2006 by WTOP and The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
