Texas Senator Drafts Bill to Ban Public Smoking - kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and Killeen

We've already seen smoking bans for some restaurants, bars and for employees, but now one Texas Senator wants the entire state to go smoke-free.

There are few places in Central Texas where you can sit down, and light up. But for social smoker, David Morris, those are the only places he likes to go. "I come in here specifically to relax, smoke a cigar. I don't smoke everyday, it's not uh. It's a casual-type of smoking environment for me," says David Morris.

But a senator out of Houston has filed to ban smoking in all indoor and outdoor working environments, and some say that could hurt business for places like Cactus Jack's in Temple. "I don't think we're gonna see the same amount of folks come out to have a good time. I think we're gonna see a bit of a drop," says Jacob Duncan, Manager at Cactus Jack's.

The Houston Senator, Rodney Ellis, says it's a public safety concern. He says "scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second hand smoke. If you're exposed to it, you will die earlier."

Hallmark Restaurant in Killeen banned smoking about five years ago. Frank land says they've seen hallmark change for the better. "It's a clean environment, to me, it's more sanitary and I think they get better business with the fact that there's not smoke floating around and the smell in the walls and everything," says Land.

Morris doesn't think the ban will pass in Texas. "For the most part, I would hope not because I think it's just a right of anybody, a freedom, a right to chose if they do it or not," says Land.

And if it does, it will join 28 states with similar bans in effect. The bill includes a grandfather clause. which would make tobacco bars who opened prior to 2013 exempt.