Topeka ? Health officials and some business owners on Thursday urged lawmakers to enact a statewide ban on smoking in indoor, public places.

But the chairman of the House-Senate committee looking at the issue, said he didn’t support a statewide ban.

State Rep. Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe, said he would rather leave the decision on whether to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and other businesses to local jurisdictions.

“I’m looking for a compelling reason for the state to step in, instead of letting local entities decide that they want to do this on their own,” Siegfreid said.

Both supporters and opponents of a statewide smoking ban squared off before the House-Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee.

A statewide ban was proposed during the last legislative session but was passed over in favor of more study.

In June, the Kansas Supreme Court upheld as constitutional the city of Lawrence’s three-year-old smoking ban in nearly all indoor workplaces.

Siegfreid said the ruling reinforced the authority of cities and counties to decide the issue, rather than the Legislature.

But Kansas State Health Officer, Dr. Howard Rodenberg, said a statewide smoke-free law would protect more citizens from the dangers of second-hand smoke.

“This piecemeal approach is not helping all Kansans,” he said.

Each year, second-hand smoke kills more than 250 Kansans and plays a role in more than 2,100 new heart attacks, Rodenberg said.

Many business owners, however, have opposed a smoking ban, saying that it intrudes on their private business practices and has cost them in lost business.

But Wayne Martin, co-owner of Royal Crest Bowling Alley and Wayne & Larry’s Sports Bar in Lawrence, said the smoking ban in Lawrence has lured more families to the bowling alley.

“We don’t see people leaving Lawrence to bowl out of town so they can smoke,” Martin said.