HOUSTON -- A new, expanded version of the city's proposed smoking ban could affect Houston businesses other than restaurants.

The proposed ordinance, if passed, would mean smokers could no longer smoke inside the dining area of a restaurant. Currently, smokers can light up in designated smoking areas.

The ban could also target bowling alleys, enclosed bus stops and other businesses. Taxi drivers would have the option of making their cabs smoke-free or not.

Sources told Local 2 Monday that if the ban passes, the city could lose convention center business.

Officials with Alcoholics Anonymous, the National Retailer Federation, the National Convenience Store Operators and the National Tobacco Retailers Association threatened to pull their conventions out of Houston.

"I want to be careful that we don't hurt ourselves economically," said Jordy Tollet, with the Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

He gave council members copies of a letter from the National Tobacco Retailers Association, which has scheduled a 2007 convention in Houston.

"There's 15,000 hotel room nights for tobacco dealers, so roughly, that's somewhere between $15 and $20 million that would be lost on our community," Tollet said.

Others worry that international business would be jeopardized if the total smoking ban is passed.

Representatives with the American Lung Association, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and others have formed an alliance that is pushing for stronger restrictions, such as a complete ban on smoking in public places.

City Council members want to research the plan more before making a decision on which businesses would be affected by the ban.

The council is set to vote on the smoking ban locations Wednesday.