“It’s something Mayor Randy Halfacre wants the council to consider for fairness sake. At restaurants elsewhere in the county, diners can light up outside,” reports WIS-TV. Lexington is a town in Lexington County, South Carolina.

Some are hoping the law stays just like it is though, and object to the smoke that can waft over from one smoking table to a non-smoking table outside.

The Lexington Town Council may hold a hearing on the issue this month, according to The Greeneville News.

According to The State (Columbia, South Carolina’s newspaper), Columbia’s City Council will vote soon on whether to change its smoking ban law so that cigar bars are exempt. Certain criteria would apply to cigar bars wanting to be covered by the exemption, though.

Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine, who favors the change, says, “Clearly, if somebody is going into a cigar bar, they are going there to smoke,” reports The State. “The whole intent behind the ordinance still remains true because restaurants and other places were the primary places we were concerned about,” she added.

A smoking ban covering bars and restaurants for the city of Columbia has been in place since October 2008. So what prompted this amendment? Per The State’s article, retail tobacco stores are actually exempt from the current smoking ban, but when one local cigar retailer decided to add a bar and sell alcohol, then his business officially became a bar and not just a retailer, and was no longer exempt. Columbia’s council will revisit the amendment again on February 17th.

What do you think of this proposed change to the city’s smoking ban?