Starting on 1 January, all Louisiana restaurants will be smokefree. 

The Louisiana senate gave final legislative approval Friday to a bill that also requires offices, government buildings, malls, retail stores, indoor sports arenas, schools and a host of other public buildings to be smokefree.
Smoking in restaurants was the biggest bone of contention.  Senators had voted to exempt bars in restaurants from the smoking ban, but house members did not like that idea and stripped the provision.  Senators acquiesced by voting 30-4 in favor of the House version.
The bill will become law unless governor Kathleen Blanco vetoes it.
Smoking would still be allowed in bars and gambling establishments. In addition, hotels and motels could reserve up to 50 per cent of their rooms for smokers.
The states of California, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Montana, Vermont, Washington, New Jersey, Utah, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Hawaii, Arkansas, and North Dakota, as well as Puerto Rico and Washington DC, have passed smokefree restaurant legislation. (pi)