by KYW’s Tony Romeo

In mid-September, a new law that will restrict smoking in public places will take effect everywhere in Pennsylvania, except Philadelphia, which will keep the local smoking ordinance already in place.

Dr. Walter Tsou, co-chair of the Smoke Free Philadelphia coalition, says one key difference between the state and city laws is that the state law will allow smoking on at least 25-percent of casino floors and up to 50-percent if casinos can prove business is being hurt:

“Well, there are a couple of differences. One is that if we had casinos in Philadelphia, they would retain being smoke-free. We also don’t allow smoking within 20 feet of a public entrance. And we also would make sure that hotels are smoke free, as opposed to the state which allows up to 25-percent of their rooms to have smoking.”

Also, bars in Philadelphia are exempt if food is 15-percent or less of their overall business, in the rest of the state; it’ll be 20-percent (see related stories).

Tsou believes Philadelphia’s law is better and that a change to the state law would have caused confusion.