The Virginia Senate has passed a bill that would ban smoking in most indoor public places, but the state House of Delegates is expected to kill the measure, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Feb. 6.

The measure was approved 23-16 in the state Senate and allows only a few exceptions to the ban. But Richmond-based Philip Morris has opposed a broad ban on indoor smoking, and the House of Delegates recently passed a bill that eliminates the legal requirement that restaurants with more than 50 seats provide a nonsmoking section. The House bill also requires that restaurants which allow smoking post a sign saying so at the door.

"We agree that additional restrictions on smoking in Virginia are warranted so that people can more readily avoid being around secondhand smoke," a Philip Morris spokesperson said. "We believe that total bans on indoor smoking fail to respect the comfort and choices of both nonsmoking and smoking adults."

Smoking-prevention advocates said they were encouraged that two more state Senate members voted for a comprehensive ban this year than did so in 2005. "I think that [legislators] are really starting to hear from their constituents, and more and more Virginians really want this to happen," said Terry Hargrove of the American Lung Association of Virginia.