I found it a little amusing how you and a number of other 'neighboring' states are saying how the ban failed in your states.
WHEN, one of the reasons being used to pass the ban (I unfortunately had to excerpt due to copyright rules) was that 'our neighboring states are doing it'.
>>>> Segarra credited this to a renewed concern about rates of smoking in a state that seems more and more out of step with the policies of its neighbors.
"We have neighboring states like New York, Rhode Island and Delaware that have already done this and shown that establishments don't lose business. On the contrary, they're much more productive," she said. "The job opportunities go up." <<<<<<<
I saw with my own eyes what the ban did in Delaware.......and I also know that the media there, almost all of it, cherry picked what businesses they spoke with regarding the impact of the ban, generally only quoted smokers that claimed to like it, and ignored enmasse the places that closed because of it.
Nor did they speak to the owners of establishments right over the state line in Maryland or Pennsylvania. Many of them saw a huge increase of business from Delaware folks.
Additionally the folks claiming that business is so good in the "surrounding states" are paid to say that because their jobs depend on them getting more states to do it.
Where I live in Virginia now is only 5 miles from the Delware line, the owners of places I have gotten to know here have all commented about the increase in business they have seen in the last 2 years from people from Delaware, or who used to vacation in Delaware but stopped because of the ban.
I'm sure some places do well after the ban - but many more do not. My suggestion would be to lift the government mandated ban and see what happens. I would guess most fine dining establishments would remain non-smoking, heck many of them were that way before the government made them, I would also guess that most neighborhood taverns or sports bars would go back to allowing it.
Sorry for my long-windedness, but I've seen good people lose jobs and businesses because of bans - I would rather not see it happen to any more...............and my position does not stem from being a smoker, just someone who is tired of nanny-do-gooders telling others how to run their lives.