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Milwaukee adopts stricter rules regulating smoking in public places 

Milwaukee bars and other businesses will have to follow stricter rules defining where smoking is and isn't allowed under the statewide indoor smoking ban, the Common Council decided Tuesday.

Aldermen voted, 12-3, to fold the state's new smoking ban law into city ordinances, but with a different definition of enclosed spaces where smoking is prohibited.

Under the city ordinance, smoking will be banned in areas that are at least 50% enclosed by walls, not including screens. The state law defines an enclosed space as having a roof and more than two "substantial" walls, a definition that tavern owners believe could allow smoking in rooms that have large open windows.

The smoking ordinance also lets the city attorney's office prosecute smoking violations in Municipal Court, where any fines would flow to the city treasury.

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