HARRISBURG -- It wasn't an easy decision, but The Saloon, a tavern/eatery in Mt. Lebanon, is going non-smoking.

The change will happen Thursday, when Pennsylvania's new smoke-free workplace law goes into effect.

"It was a tough choice, but we're happy we're going to be non-smoking," said manager Keith Sheppard. "I've gotten a lot of positive responses from our customers to the new policy. Some people have said 'I'd come there to eat, but there is too much smoke.' "

Under the new Clean Indoor Air Act, which was 15 years in the making, restaurants will be required to prohibit smoking. But smaller bars and taverns, where on-premises food sales don't exceed 20 percent of total revenue, can ask the state Health Department for an exception to the smoking ban.

"We're a borderline case," Mr. Sheppard said, meaning food sales are right at the 20 percent level. But The Saloon decided not to seek an exception. Smokers, he said, can still go outside to light up or use an open-air deck, at least until it closes in late September.

If one person deserves the bulk of the credit -- or, in some smokers' minds, the blame -- for the new smoke-free law, it's state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, who has pushed for it since 1993.

"One attribute I have is persistence," he said last week.

He said the new law is needed to protect non-smoking customers and workers in public places, schools and offices, as well as restaurants, recreational facilities, sports arenas, larger bars and taverns, on 75 percent of a casino floor and in at least 75 percent of hotel/motel rooms.

The legislation was signed by Gov. Ed Rendell in June but didn't take effect for 90 days, to give businesses a chance to adapt to it. The full text of the lengthy legislation is available at www.legis.state.pa.us

"[Thursday] will be a great day for Pennsylvania," Mr. Greenleaf said. "Second-hand smoke is dangerous. Even a brief exposure can cause health problems and higher costs for health care."

He pointed to a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine that said heart attacks in Scotland had declined 17 percent in the first year after smoking had been banned in public places. The decrease was lower in England.

"A smoke-free environment is the only effective measure to protect the public, including people at work, from exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke," said Dr. Calvin Johnson, state health secretary.

Joy Blankley Meyer, executive director of the Pennsylvania Alliance to Control Tobacco, said the new law isn't perfect but it is "a great first step."

Her group, which includes the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and others, fought for the new law.

"We worked for a comprehensive smoke-free law for Pennsylvania because we wanted to protect all workers from the effects of exposure to second-hand smoke, which is a carcinogen, according to a U.S. surgeon general's report in 2006," she said. She noted that 24 other states, including New York, Ohio and Delaware, already have such a law.

But even its supporters acknowledge that the new law is complicated and can be difficult to understand. Some of the confusion concerns its application to small "mom and pop" taverns as well as to private clubs run by veterans and fraternal groups.

The state Health Department was given the major responsibility for implementing the smoke-free law.

"It's a complex law and we encourage people to go to our Web site for information,'' said department spokeswoman Holli Senior. It's www.health.state.pa.us. On the home page, click on CleanIndoorAir , and then on the second screen, click on Guidance (at the top).

For persons without Web access, there is a toll-free number, 1-877-835-9535, which operates around the clock, she said.

Enforcement of the new law will be "complaint-based," Ms. Senior said, meaning the department will field complaints from citizens rather than sending inspectors around the state. Anyone who thinks a business is illegally continuing to permit smoking can go to the department's Web site to file a complaint or can call the toll-free number.

Penalties include a $250 fine for the first offense, a $500 fine for a second offense and a $1,000 fine for subsequent offenses.

One tavern owner who isn't worried about the new law -- because she doesn't sell food -- is Kathy Powell, owner of Red and Irene's bar on Pittsburgh's South Side. The bar was opened more than 30 years ago by her parents and Ms. Powell has worked there since 1979.

If a customer gets hungry, she orders a pizza from a shop around the corner. Since she gets no revenue from food sales, she plans to seek an exemption from the state. Many of her customers smoke and she certainly doesn't want to drive them away by banning smoking.

"I don't smoke myself and I do hate [cigarette smoke], but we've been hurt enough already by the Allegheny County drink tax, and I didn't want to ban smoking and lose even more business," she said. "As much as I would love to say 'no smoking,' it's just not going to happen."

Another restaurant chain that isn't worried about the new law is Eat'n Park, which voluntarily made all of its restaurants smoke-free starting in May 2007.

To celebrate the implementation of the statewide clean air law, Eat'n Park will give its customers a free Smiley Cookie on Thursday.

The smoke-free law is not as simple as some would have liked. It's complicated by allowing "exceptions" where smoking will still be allowed.

Like all controversial bills in Harrisburg, this one is a product of compromise between legislators who wanted a total ban and others who wanted no ban at all, arguing that the state shouldn't dictate how people live their lives.

One lawmaker who had strong reservations about a smoking ban is Rep. Bob Belfanti, D-North- umberland, who is himself a smoker and who frequents veterans clubs where smoking has long been permitted.

He ended up voting for the bill, which he called "a positive move." But he was able to exempt smaller taverns where on-site food sales are less than 20 percent of their business and private, fraternal clubs, where many members have smoked for years.

"My concern was that there still be some smaller venues where like-minded individuals who smoke could gather," he said. "But this law certainly will eliminate smoking in the majority of public and private establishments."

The law prohibits towns, cities or counties -- except for Philadelphia -- from passing their own, stricter smoking bans. Philadelphia is a separate case because for the past two years, it's had its own smoke-free law and Mr. Rendell insisted that Philadelphia's law not be overridden by the Legislature.

However, two Pittsburgh Democrats, Reps. Chelsa Wagner of Beechview and Dan Frankel of Squirrel Hill, will hold a news conference tomorrow, seeking to amend the Clean Indoor Air Act so that Allegheny County can enact its own stricter no-smoking provisions as well.

Mr. Greenleaf also hasn't given up trying to tighten up the law on a statewide basis, meaning reducing some of the places where smoking is still permitted. He'll start that effort when the Legislature begins its new two-year session in January.

"We want to save lives, reduce health care costs, reduce medical problems and reduce the amount of wages that are lost due to smoking-related illnesses,'' he said.

Ms. Meyer of Alliance to Control Tobacco is ready to support such changes, adding, "We applaud his efforts to close the loopholes."