HARRISBURG -- A Republican lawmaker from York is becoming the key figure in the Legislature's slow-moving effort to craft a bill to ban smoking in public places and workplaces in Pennsylvania.

Rep. Ron Miller, now in his 10th year in the General Assembly, has emerged as the guy in the middle, the one seeking a compromise between two factions on a House-Senate conference committee.

"Everyone wants Pennsylvania to have smoking legislation that makes as many places as possible smoke-free," Mr. Miller said yesterday, just before the six-member committee voted to delay action on a smoke-free bill until at least April 29.

Three legislators -- Sens. Charles McIlhinney, R-Bucks, and Robert Mellow, D-Lackawanna, plus Rep. Bob Belfanti, D-Northumberland -- are, in general, sympathetic to the desires of smokers. They also listen to the wishes of "mom and pop" taverns, social and fraternal clubs like Veterans of Foreign Wars and Moose, and casino operators, who want smoking to be allowed in all or part of such facilities.

But two other panel members, Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, and Rep. Michael Gerber, R-Montgomery, are staunch critics of smoking and want to sharply limit the number of "exceptions" where smoking would still be allowed.

That leaves Mr. Miller. Yesterday he voted with Mr. McIlhinney, Mr. Mellow and Mr. Belfanti to delay action for nearly a month on the anti-smoking bill, Senate Bill 246.

As things look now, the revised version of the bill will probably permit smoking at adults-only private clubs, taverns and at least a portion of a casino floor, along with "cigar bars," upscale liquor establishments that sell cigars out of humidors.

In order for a compromise version of Senate Bill 246 to get out of the conference committee, at least two senators and at least two House members on the panel must vote for it.

Also, under General Assembly rules, a bill that comes out of a conference committee cannot be amended by the full House or Senate. It must be voted up or down exactly as the committee words it.

That's why an acceptable compromise is so important in this case, Mr. Miller said. He wanted more time to fashion an anti-smoking bill that would be fair to both smokers and anti-smokers and one that could win the approval of both chambers.

He said it would be a waste of everyone's time for the conference committee to send out a bill that is so strict that either the House or Senate would reject it. That's what happened last summer, when the House passed a strong bill -- one with few places where smoking would be allowed -- while the Senate approved a more liberal bill, with numerous "exceptions."

"Let's get Pennsylvania as smoke-free as we can," Mr. Miller said. "But a total ban on smoking won't pass both chambers. We are getting close [to a compromise], but it's just not there yet. A delay is necessary."

He said he needs time to add an amendment about limiting workers' and patrons' exposure to secondhand smoke by requiring taverns and clubs to install high-quality ventilation systems that will remove 90 percent or more of the smoke.

Mr. Belfanti said he's been contacted by tavern and club owners who say their patrons want to smoke. He said the Legislature shouldn't be telling people how to run their businesses.

"This is still the United States of America," he said. "Everyone has rights." Mr. Belfanti also said there are studies showing that secondhand smoke isn't as dangerous as Mr. Greenleaf claims it is.

He also said that taverns and clubs should perhaps be required to put up outside signs saying they permit smoking, so that nonsmokers would be warned about exposure to secondhand smoke before they went inside. The signs would also say that children aren't permitted to enter.

Mr. Gerber was upset about yesterday's four-week delay.

"It's incredibly frustrating that after more than a year on this [smoke-free] bill we're still continuing to delay the process," he said.

"We are not trying to kill this bill," insisted Mr. McIlhinney, but there were some skeptics in the audience, including American Cancer Society lobbyist Diane Phillips and Bill Godshall of SmokeFree Pennsylvania.

Ms. Phillips said the committee's effort to put off action for another four weeks "is just another delaying tactic."

Mr. Mellow wasn't present yesterday, but he gave Mr. McIlhinney a proxy vote to delay action for four weeks. Both senators have generally favored exceptions that would permit smoking to continue at small neighborhood bars, where many patrons now smoke, as well as at fraternal clubs.

David LaTorre, a spokesman for The Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington County, said The Meadows is under severe pressure from the two racetrack casinos in northern West Virginia, where smoking is allowed.

There's another major issue besides deciding on which places will continue to permit smoking, called "local pre-emption."

The Legislature must decide whether to forbid municipalities from enacting their own smoking bans, even if they are tougher than the state law. Mr. Gerber says towns and counties should be able to enact their own smoke-free laws.

Mr. McIlhinney wants to prohibit municipalities from having anti-smoking laws of their own. He said that would be too confusing, and unfair, to businesses.