RICHMOND -- The sponsor of a bill to ban smoking in restaurants and other public places said Friday his legislation never got a fair hearing in the House of Delegates.

Senate Bill 648, which would have banned smoking in restaurants, bowling alleys, workplaces and other buildings open to the public, was killed by a unanimous vote Thursday night in a six-member House General Laws subcommittee.

The House instituted rule changes this year that allow subcommittees to kill legislation before it reaches a full committee.

SB 648's sponsor, Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, said those rule changes unfairly allowed his bill to die.

"It's a disappointment for the 84 percent of Virginians who believe that all workers should be protected from secondhand smoke, the action that was taken last night," Bell said. "It's even more disappointing that I believe 100 percent of Virginians deserve to have a fair hearing and to have this heard before a full committee.

"Having 6 percent of the House of Delegates determine the fate of a bill that received the majority support of the Senate is hardly a fair hearing."

Bell filed his complaints in a letter to House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford County.

House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, defended the House rules changes, saying they have improved the chamber's efficiency and kept full committees from devoting time to legislation that has no chance of passing.

He said Bell's bill got a full and fair hearing by the House subcommittee.

"He didn't get a single positive vote," Griffith said of Bell's bill. "If a bill doesn't stand a chance of passage, we don't want to spend time in full committee because that's how we make so many errors. He didn't get a single positive vote."

Griffith noted that any member of the General Laws Committee can ask the full panel to consider the bill at its next meeting. But a majority of the members have to grant the request for the bill to get a second hearing.

"The bottom line is he [Bell] knows how to work the system -- I told him," Griffith said. "If he chooses not to work the system, that's his problem. And if he can't get a single person to raise it, then it must be a problem in the committee."

Griffith noted that Senate committees have killed House-sponsored bills without votes, letting them die without motions being made by committee members.

"You go over to Senate Finance, you never get a vote," Griffith said. "We don't do that. He got a vote, and it was all done in public."

But one member of the House General Laws subcommittee that killed SB 648 agrees with Bell.

Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County, has argued against the subcommittee rule since it was first proposed in January.

"I think every member, delegate or senator, should be entitled to a recorded vote in full committee on his or her bill, period," Armstrong said.

Bell's comments received mixed support from other senators. Senate Floor Leader Thomas Norment, R-Williamsburg, said he respected the "sovereignty of the House to adopt rules."

However, "I do think that a bill that has come out of the Senate with a significant vote, and a bill that is a significant policy decision where reasonable people can differ, probably should be afforded an opportunity before the full committee," Norment said.

Sen. Charles Hawkins, R-Chatham, went before a House Finance subcommittee Friday morning with SB 708, a high-profile transportation bill that has received criticism from some House leaders.

The five-member subcommittee tabled the bill, but members said they want to keep it alive as House and Senate negotiators try to reach a compromise on a transportation funding plan.

"My experiences with House committees this year have been very positive," Hawkins said. "Even though they tabled the bill, they worked with me and made sure it wasn't killed. ... I'm sorry Brandon ran into problems."

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