» |  | Fayette County to not enforce smoking ban
3/17/08 @ 1:39:03 pm
Fayette County State's Attorney Steven Friedel has asked law enforcement in the county not to issue smoking citations to offenders in bars and private clubs. Friedel is calling the 'Smoke Free Illinois' law a horrendous piece of legislation that is overbroad, poorly drafted and is difficult at best and impossible at worst to enforce. He says it contains virtually no exceptions and has given the enforcement burden to the public health departments who have no law enforcement authority. Friedel notes the law is written as if it is intended to be administratively enforced but by law entitles offenders to full due process including the right to a jury trial and gives judges no discretion on sentences. He says if the legislature had intended to have the law effectively enforced, it had many other alternatives than the ones they chose.
Friedel says it appears to him as if the legislature handed a 'political hot potato' to State's Attorneys that allows them to take credit for good intentions without worrying about the headaches that enforcement creates. Friedel notes it appears outside of bars and private clubs, there appears to be compliance including restaurants. He says he's prepared to take necessary action if compliance begins to wane. Friedel is the second southern Illinois State's Attorney to pass on enforcing the new law due to problems in how it was drafted.
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