Welcome

Here at Illinois Smoking Laws we are committed to providing you the viewer with the most accurate and current information regarding the smoking laws in the city of Illinois. We also aim to give our viewers a selection of new concepts that deal with smoking issues in the restaurant industry.

The Law

Under the Illinois Clean Indoor Air Act (ICIAA) of 1990, smoking is prohibited in Chicago in all enclosed public and work places, except for specifically designated areas. Currently, all restaurants are required to set aside a certain percentage of tables in designated no-smoking areas depending upon classification:

• Category I establishments must set aside a minimum of 30 percent of their dining area as non-smoking.
• Category II restaurants must reserve at least 50 percent of their tables for non-smokers.

The Chicago City Council is now considering a proposal to ban smoking in ALL public places, including restaurants, bars, taverns and nightclubs. Opponents say the amendment would not only be devastating to the hospitality business industry, but it would also prove disrupting to the citizenry at large, because patrons would be outside smoking and making noise at all hours of the night, and in Chicago many bars and restaurants are located in neighborhoods with a large proportion of residential buildings.

Steve Riedl, executive director of the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, said in a letter that he wrote to the Chicago Sun-Times that "smoking bans have a severe negative economic impact on hospitality venues that serve beverage alcohol for consumption on premise. Liquor-pouring establishments are more than twice as likely to experience revenue declines than non-liquor-pouring establishments (smoking laws and their differential effects on restaurants, bars and taverns), sales tax revenue from liquor-pouring establishments grew 15 percent less than the rest of the economy after the enactment of smoking bans (according to the California Board of Equalization), more than 1,000 bars and restaurants that serve beverage alcohol closed in the first year of California's smoking ban (according to the American Beverage Institute), and sales of wine and spirits in the New York metropolitan area declined 40 percent in the first six months their smoking ban was in effect, eliminating almost 7,000 retail hospitality positions (according to the Empire Restaurant and Tavern Association study)."

In addition to the amendment being considered by the Chicago City Council, environmental groups are asking that smoking be banned on Chicago's beaches, not just to protect public health, but to cut down on litter. According to Stephanie Smith, education coordinator of the Lake Michigan Federation environmental group, cigarette butts represent 42 percent of all Chicago beach trash.

UPDATE: The Chicago City Council ordinance banning smoking in practically all public places in our city went into effect on January 16, 2006. After that date, smoking would still be allowed in freestanding bars and taverns, and within 15 feet of any restaurant bar, until July 1, 2008. Of Chicago's 47 aldermen, the only one who voted against the ordinance was Ald. Brian Doherty of the 41st ward. (Doherty has said the businesses in his ward will suffer because the patrons will go to the suburban bars and taverns that adjoin the 41st ward.) The Chicago Council last year also banned racing pigeons from the city of Chicago (the only large city in America to have done so), and is taking up again the idea of banning pit bulls.


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