Pennsylvania's legislative leaders appointed a conference committee in December that was supposed to expedite work on a statewide indoor smoking ban. The committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow, and there's little evidence to suggest the six members are going to agree on a comprehensive ban without exceptions.

While our lawmakers have dithered and failed to get this done, here's what's been accomplished in other states:

• Last Wednesday Atlantic City Council voted to close the last major loophole in New Jersey's tough, statewide ban on smoking in public places by extending it to casinos. More than two dozen states regulate smoking inside casinos, eight ban it outright in the gambling halls and two others will do so next year.

• April 16 -- Iowa instituted a statewide smoking ban so that, starting July 1, no one may light up a cigarette or cigar inside an Iowa bar, restaurant or most places of employment.

• April 10 -- Maine banned smoking in any vehicle when children under 16 are present, joining California, Arkansas, Louisiana and Puerto Rico.

• Feb. 22 -- Nebraska lawmakers passed a statewide smoking ban that prevents counties and cities from opting out and that applies to bars, restaurants and almost all other workplaces.

• Feb. 1 -- Maryland's statewide indoor ban went into effect, including restaurants and bars.

Other nations are beating us on this important health initiative, too.

Mexico City, home to 18 million people, banned cigarette smoking as of April 3 in all enclosed public places including bars, office buildings, sidewalk cafes, public transportation, elevators and schools.

On March 29 in China, where some smoking restrictions have been in place since 1996, the capital of Beijing imposed a ban that applies to all restaurants, bars, Internet cafes, hotels, offices, resorts and medical facilities.

Even in Paris, the air has been cleared from its iconic smoky cafes. The final step of France's 2006 prohibition on smoking in public places was extended to bars, discos and casinos on Jan. 2.

All of these changes have taken place since December, when Pennsylvania merely decided to give the issue more study.

The District of Columbia and 21 other states had bans in place before then: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and Washington. Not all of the laws are as far-reaching as they could be; some of them have exemptions for casinos, bars or other workplaces.

The U.S. surgeon general's 2006 report on secondhand smoke said there is no safe level of exposure and concluded that it causes lung cancer, heart disease, serious respiratory illnesses, low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome. That's why 84 percent of Pennsylvanians agree we need a state law that will protect all workers from the serious health hazards of secondhand smoke.

If our legislators don't get this done, Pennsylvania's new slogan will have to be "America's Ashtray."