Ellis: Why not make the whole state smoke-free?

So now that Houston has passed its smoking ban, a lot of bar owners in the city are concerned that they'll lose customers to bars just outside Houston, where smoking is permitted. But they may not need to worry: If state Sen. Rodney Ellis has his way, the entire state of Texas will one day be a no-smoking zone ... so we won't die.

“I mean look, there are a lot of things that will kill us that we don’t know about. The least thing we ought to do is no matter how smart or how stupid somebody is, we ought to be doing as much as we can to stop those things that we know cause cancer because cancer causes death," he said.

Texas wouldn't be the first state to pass a law making all workplaces smoke-free: Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Puerto Rico (yeah, we know, it's not a state) are already smoke-free, and similar laws will soon take effect in Hawaii and Louisiana. Though he hasn't talked in terms of details, Ellis said he plans to pursue the matter: "I am going to be aggressive with this legislation," he told KHOU. "I hope it gets generated in the debate in this election cycle, in the race for governor."

According to Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, an anti-smoking lobbying group, 14 cities in Texas (not counting Houston) already have ordinances in place barring smoking in all workplaces, including Austin, Beaumont, El Paso, Laredo and San Antonio.