Karen, first of all, the criminal penalties have not been overthrown "for good." Second of all, even if the "criminal" part of the law is overturned at the State Supreme Court level, there still are ways to make sure the ban is enforced. For example, the legislature could amend the health code and empower the Health Department (who has enforcement oversight) to shut down a restaurant (or other establishment) if there's evidence that the establishment is allowing its customers to violate the clean indoor air act. That would be a civil (as opposed to a criminal) way to get the establishments to buy in to helping enforce the law.
Another way would be to use whatever laws are already on the books that make public establishments responsible for ensuring that their customers don't break the law on their premises.
The will of the people is clear; now it's up to the elected officials to figure out how to implement and enforce the directive.
Lainie
krallison416@aol.com wrote:
Civil court or fines are just not the same thing - how many companies
cheerfully disobey with a willingness to pay a fine and continue violating the
statues? I think they are less enforced and less threatening than criminal
penalties.
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