The Alabama Senate voted 28-3 in favor of a measure that would ban smoking in most indoor public places, the Montgomery Advertiser reported April 30.

Sponsor Sen. Vivian Davis Figures (D-Mobile) worked 10 years to get the measure passed in the state Senate; lawmakers passed a weaker version of her bill in 2003.

Senate lawmakers rejected amendments to the bill that would have exempted small businesses from the ban. Sen. Trip Pittman (R-Montrose), who proposed the amendments, said that business owners should have "the right to make a bad decision."