Tinkering with smoking ban

Argus Leader, South Dakota: The state’s newly expanded smoking ban is only about a month old, and already there’s talk of tinkering with the law.

We certainly hope state legislators will abandon that route during the upcoming legislative session.

South Dakota’s debate about smoking in public places long has been an exhausting one. However, voters across the state placed a resounding period on the issue when they voted 64 percent to 36 percent to remove almost all remaining exemptions to a ban in effect since 2002.

There is nothing new that has arisen in the past several weeks that significantly alters the essential question of whether people can smoke in bars, casinos and restaurants, even though that’s not allowed inside any other public place in South Dakota.

Voters have been well aware, for years now, of possible revenue loss for previously exempted businesses and lottery receipts under the new provision. And they supported the ban extension anyway.

Even if there were some justifiable reason to reopen the issue, now certainly isn’t the time.

It’s impossible to imagine that there’s enough data available to provide foundation for possible changes.