Kaine Considers Ban on Smoking In State Buildings

That position puts Kaine at odds with many in his party and with the state Senate, which this year passed legislation that would have banned smoking in virtually all public and private businesses. The legislation died in the House of Delegates.

Sen. J. Brandon Bell (R-Roanoke), who sponsored the Senate legislation, said he is pleased that Kaine might be willing to ban smoking in at least some places.

"He's hearing from a lot of people. It's a broadly supported bill," Bell said. "I don't think he wants to be on the wrong side of that."

In Virginia, the decision to prohibit smoking in a state building is currently left to agency or facility managers, according to Hall, who said the result is "uneven" policies on smoking across the state.

In Maryland, smoking in state buildings is prohibited under a 1992 executive order and is limited to sealed, ventilated smoking rooms in all private workplaces except restaurants and bars. In the District, a law that went into effect in April bans smoking in all workplaces and in restaurant dining rooms. In January, it will ban smoking in bars as well.

Across the nation, 22 states, including West Virginia, ban smoking in state buildings, according to the American Lung Association.

The smoke-free movement is accelerating in part because of a June report by U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, who found that secondhand smoke at any level is toxic and "not a mere annoyance. It is a serious health hazard that can lead to disease and premature death in children and nonsmoking adults."

In November, Arizona and Ohio voters will decide on ballot initiatives that would ban smoking in workplaces. Smoking is barred in the capitol in North Carolina, a major tobacco-producing state.

But smokers have always had a haven in Virginia, where for many years signs invited visitors to the state Capitol to light up wherever they pleased. On the ceilings of the House and Senate chambers in the Capitol, which is currently under renovation, are pictures of tobacco leaves, a tribute to a crop that still generates hundreds of millions of dollars in valuable exports each year.

Now, if Kaine gets his way, the sweet smell of tobacco leaves wafting across from the world's largest cigarette manufacturing plant may soon be the closest that state employees in Virginia's capital get to smoking on the job.

Kaine has said several times that he supports voluntary bans by private companies. The law firm where he worked in the mid-1980s did just that, he said again Tuesday.

But he has said his opposition to government bans on smoking at private businesses stems from the memory of his father's ironworks business in the Kansas City, Mo., area, where five people -- including Kaine -- worked. He said again on the radio Tuesday that he cannot imagine the government banning smoking there.

"What is the right role of government?" he asked, rhetorically. "That is the question."