DENVER -- The state Senate has given tentative approval to a measure that would ban smoking in restaurants across Colorado.

The bill was amended to limit the ban to restaurants that do not serve alcohol, excluding casinos and bars. Supporters say it will give the bill a better chance of passing.

Denver Democratic Sen. Dan Grossman said he sponsored the measure, because he wants to create a level playing field for businesses in the 13 communities that already have similar bans.

Restaurants in those communities have complained, saying smokers are taking their business to nearby cities where there isn't a smoking ban.

Grossman said government already regulates public health to cover carcinogens like asbestos, and said his bill would extend those protections to second-hand smoke for workers and customers across Colorado.

Some Republican senators oppose the ban because they say it infringes on personal freedom and property rights.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper -- a restaurant owner for 20 years -- had gone on record in support of the measure, along with small business owner and Cortez Republican Rep. Mark Larson.

Grossman's original measure would have banned smoking in public meetings, elevators, mass transit, grocery stores, bars, casinos and three-fourths of the hotel rooms in the state.

Violators would have to pay a $200 fine for the first offense, $300 for a second offense in the same calendar year and $500 for every violation after that during the same year.

The Senate approved an amendment by Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, that would exclude casinos and bars from the ban. Johnson said that would give it a better chance of passing.

Several cities and counties across Colorado have already enacted smoking bans, but a statewide ban would supersede all of them.

Fort Collins, Greeley, Pueblo, Alamosa, Arvada, Aspen, Boulder, Longmont, Louisville, Montrose, Snowmass, Superior, Telluride and unincorporated Boulder County already have similar bans. Some groups have been trying to ban smoking in Denver for years.

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Colorado General Assembly
Sen. Dan Grossman
State Senate