A workplace smoking ban in Chippewa Falls appears to be a dead issue.

The city’s Transportation Committee, which oversees public safety issues, voted 3-0 on Wednesday in favor of not taking action on a smoking ban until the state does.

Voting in favor were council members Susan Zukowski, Jack Covill and Brian Flynn.

They agreed a smoking ban would cause economic hardship to city businesses at a time when the economy is struggling.

Council member Jason Anderson, who is not a member of the committee, said if a local ban was approved, smokers would go to bars in neighboring areas without a ban.

“I don’t know if banning it in a local municipality as small as our will be of any significance health-wise,” Anderson said.

Adding Anderson to the three committee members would produce a majority on the seven-member city council.

Flynn said everyone agrees that smoking is bad for people, but added, “To me, there needs to be an uniform law.”

For more on the committee’s vote, see Thursday’s printed edition of The Chippewa Herald.