Frankfort, Ky. ? Government workers in Kentucky, one of the nation’s top tobacco producers, will not be permitted to smoke in state buildings after Aug. 1 under an executive order signed Tuesday by the governor.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher said the ban will extend to state buildings controlled by the executive branch, but exclude portions of the state Capitol and the Capitol Annex controlled by the Legislature.

Most state office buildings have designated smoking rooms. When the ban takes effect, smoking will be permitted only in designated outdoor areas. The smoking rooms will be converted to offices or storage space.

Fletcher’s executive order came one day before a new state law takes effect giving the state’s executive branch, local governments and universities the authority to ban smoking in government-owned buildings. Although tobacco is a key part of the state’s economy, Kentucky, like the rest of the nation, has seen a proliferation of local smoking bans in offices, public buildings, restaurants, even bars.

Tobacco use accounts for more than 7,500 deaths in Kentucky each year, said William Hacker, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health.