Last week, the Illinois House of Representatives voted on a Clean Air-Repeal Home Rule, which would allow local communities to prohibit smoking sections in public places including restaurants and bars. The bill failed by one vote.

“It’s a matter of business choice versus state law,” 70th District Representative Robert Pritchard said. “Everyone realizes that it is more conducive for businesses to appeal to their clientele whether they choose to have both smoking and non-smoking sections or the like.”

In the early ’90s, the state legislature passed a bill after being lobbied by tobacco companies that only allowed communities with already-established smoking ordinances to entertain smoking bans in the future.

DeKalb fit that bill, so a smoking ban is possible for DeKalb as the law stands.

“DeKalb has that power today; they would need to introduce the bill and go through the typical legislative process,” Pritchard said.

Sixth Ward Alderman Dave Baker said he consistently will do whatever he can to encourage the rights of customers to be respected through a no-smoking ordinance.

“First and foremost, I want to address the protection of our children because they don’t have the same choices that we do,” he said.

Some businesses don’t think such an ordinance would affect their revenue negatively.

“In this day and age, we don’t want to turn people away that might go somewhere else where they can smoke, but if it were a law for everybody, it wouldn’t affect our business much,” said Sean Finn, a manager at Pizza Villa, 824 W. Lincoln Highway. “We get more requests for non-smoking than for smoking anyway.”

Businesses also say many other factors affect revenue, and a no-smoking law wouldn’t always be a determining factor for losing customers.

“Obviously if it passes, it’s just one of those things we’ll have to adjust to,” said Tony Poulos, general manager at Otto’s Niteclub, 118 E. Lincoln Highway. “I wouldn’t fight it too hard because at least you’re on a level playing field.”