Senate considers changes to state smoking-ban bill

Indiana senators are ready to begin tinkering with a proposal to ban smoking statewide in some private establishments.

The full Senate is scheduled to take up the ban Tuesday afternoon. A Senate panel approved the ban last week with exemptions for the state's gambling industry, private clubs such as military veterans' lodges, and tobacco and cigar stores. The measure would also give bars an 18-month reprieve from the ban.

Senators plan to spend the day voting on proposals to either remove some exemptions or add new ones to the bill.

Exemptions have historically been the stumbling block for the ban. Some supporters of the ban this year have held their breath and voted for the measure they call "hypocritical." The authors of the ban have said it is the best they could do.