Tomorrow night, the House is scheduled to consider HB 2, the smoking ban bill.
Here are some points about the smoking ban that aren’t getting as much attention:
1) The ban prohibits smoking for:
– Home-based businesses in which the individual(s) works in a building on the same property that a house is located (not in the house). For example, a farmer that is working in a barn, or a mechanic working in an detached garage.
– A person that drives an employer’s vehicle (even if the person is the employer). For example, a truck driver or an employee that uses a company car for business and private use.
– All private clubs–this even includes nonprofit organizations that are formed specifically for association purposes such as veterans organizations.
– Nursing home patients that have smoked all their lives
2) Some restaurants will have advantages over other restaurants
The state’s restaurant association, which has decided not to oppose the bill so long as everybody’s property rights are violated, also is supporting this bill that appears to give some restaurants (i.e. some of its members) an advantage over other restaurants.
The smoking ban prohibits smoking in almost all private enclosed areas (and local governments can even ban smoking for their own unenclosed areas). The bill doesn’t prohibit smoking in private unenclosed areas (nor should it–I’m sure the “extreme extremists” wanted to).
This means then that restaurants with private unenclosed dining areas, such as outdoor seating, could allow smoking. Note that the bill prohibits smoking in either “public places” and “places of employment”–both definitions are “limited” to enclosed areas.
