Maybe it's a good thing that a majority of the Pennsylvania Senate voted to let grown-ups blow smoke in kids' faces.
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 33-17 in favor of a statewide smoking ban that - among many dubious exemptions - would allow smoking in some homes where small day-care businesses operate.
Outrageous? Of course. It stinks worse than a week-old PB&J sandwich in a Wiggles lunch box. But that just means it's inevitable that Senate members will have to revisit their smoke-free bill.
While they're plugging the loophole on smoking in day-care settings, the senators can fix other egregious elements in their legislation.
If only to save children from the health hazards of secondhand smoke, Gov. Rendell must veto the Senate's smoke-free measure - as he's vowed to do.
According to Rendell, up to 105,000 children in day-care could be exposed to smoke if their care-givers decide to light up. At such a tender age, getting exposed to the dozens of known carcinogens in secondhand smoke would be a head start to a lifetime of health woes.
Other exemptions in a smoke-free law as carved out by the Senate would expose thousands more adults to secondhand smoke.
Senators started out with a progressive proposal to clear the air in almost every workplace. That bill would have trumped even New Jersey's excellent law, inasmuch as there was no waiver for casinos. But that legislation - long proposed by Sen. Stewart J. Greenleaf (R., Montgomery) - was worked over by freshman Sen. Charles T. "Chuck" McIlhinney Jr. (R., Bucks).
McIlhinney says the exemptions he pushed were needed to gather enough votes for passage. Wonder whose vote hinged on being able to choke toddlers with smoke?
In McIlhinney's political compromise, people in corner bars and veterans' clubs would be able to light up, as would many slots gamblers. But their smoking privileges would come at the health risk of people who would have little choice but to breathe the smoke: barkeeps, casino staff and other hospitality workers.
Worse, the Senate bill would supersede Philadelphia's more-inclusive smoke-free law. That's a sop to the casino industry, which is fighting mightily to keep smoking sections in gaming areas.
It's up to the state House to craft a better smoke-free law, along the lines proposed by Rep. Michael F. Gerber (D., Montgomery). A near-total indoor workplace ban would position the state to compete and grow with other regions going smoke-free, while sparing thousands of citizens from smoking's hazards.