Timothy M. Kaine, the Virginia Governor, and William J. Howell, the Republican House Speaker, where the ones who quietly negotiated some kind of compromise which would forbid smoking inside public bars and restaurants. Yet, the advocates against smoking weren’t quite satisfied when reading the print.

They stated that the language used in the ban was too vague and it clearly permitted the bars and restaurants to create special and separate spaces for smokers, but besides the fact that it pointed out that these spaces must be ventilated, they didn’t explain the standards for these kinds of spaces.

Another point of the ban which was considered to be too weak was that the fine for the restaurants and bars which would break the rules is $25. The advocates considered this amount of money to be too small and the whole situation to be too vulnerable to follow the full ban of smoking in the public spaces.

Cathleen S. Grzesiek, director of government relations for the American Heart Association, said that the advocates realized the lack of any real goal of banning smoking. She added that this ban isn’t a victory for the public health. On the other hand, Glynn Loope, executive director of Cigar Rights of America, said that she had been so pissed off with the ban that she felt like throwing the computer to the floor.

The next move of Kaine and Howell is to ban smoking in public spaces in Virginia. Here, the advocates on both sides fell very angry with the future decision, because the state had been long considered to be linked with the tobacco industry.