A non-binding step, anyway.
Presented with four ways to proceed with a potential public smoking ban, the San Marcos City Council opted late Tuesday to move forward with putting a nonbinding referendum before voters in November.
Assistant City Manager Collette Jamison said the council wouldn’t have to act even if voters approved the initiative. And if residents vote in favor of a smoking ban, the council would have the opportunity to tweak the language after the election, she said.
[…]
Mayor Daniel Gurrero pointed out that there’s still time for the council to “slam on the brakes” if council members decide they don’t want to pursue the initiative.
See here for the background. Those of you in San Marcos who might want to register an opinion about this, there will be two public meetings at which to do so. If you’re wondering about which Texas cities do and do not have smoking bans, Wikipedia has you covered. Looks like West Texas is the place to be if you still want to light one up – Abilene has a ban, but Amarillo (which voted a referendum down in 2008), Lubbock, Midland, Odessa, and San Angelo are all missing from those lists.
Lubbock does have a smoking ban, one of the first in the state. I has reasonable exemptions for sports cafe’s and bars.
Actually, this site has far better coverage for which Texas communities have total smoking restrictions, all the way down to those that do nothing other than ban it inside municipal buildings:
http://www.utmb.edu/shsordinances/
And Robert, you’re correct about Lubbock having a partial ban, with certain exemptions such as bars. Midland and Odessa have partial bans, while San Angelo has a total ban.
I’m very puzzled as to why Charles Kuffner didn’t research BEYOND wikipedia, to ensure he was correct about those cities!