Full Senate next to debate smoke-free restaurant move

By WILL SENTELL
Capitol news bureau
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A revamped bid to ban smoking in restaurants statewide won approval in a Senate committee on Wednesday.

The bill is aimed at protecting nonsmokers from the effects of secondhand smoke.

A similar effort died in the Senate last year. Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Grosse Tete and sponsor of the bill, said his no-smoking plan failed in 2005 in part because it covered gambling casinos, which are excluded this year, as are bars.

He said the influence of the gambling lobby caused him to drop casinos from the bill this year and allow smoking to continue.

Asked if the legislation has a better chance now, Marionneaux said, “We’ll see. I think so.”

Senate Bill 105 won approval without dissent from the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee. It next faces action in the full Senate.

The measure, if approved, would apparently not have any effect on a smoking ban for East Baton Rouge Parish approved by its own government last year. Aside from rank-and-file restaurants, the ban would cover coffee shops, cafeterias, sandwich shops and school cafeterias. Restaurants that include bars would also be included.

The ban would also extend to a wide range of other public places including banks, hotel and motel lobbies, public transportation, retail stores, sports arenas, theaters and school buses.

Excluded would be casinos, bars, homes, hotel rooms designated for smokers and retail tobacco firms.

People who violate the proposed law would face fines of up to $300. Proprietors of the restaurant or other space covered by the ban would be subject to $1,000 penalties.

Dr. Mitchell D. Lirtzman, a cardiovascular surgeon who lives in Lafayette, said the bill represents the biggest public health gain since the polio vaccine.

Lirtzman said medical literature is filled with evidence on the benefits of a smoke-free environment.

“Secondhand smoke is a preventable form of death,” he told the committee.

Zoey Devall, state government relations director for the American Cancer Society, said 1,200 Louisiana residents die each year from the effects of secondhand smoke.

“This is a way to decrease the deaths,” Devall said.

Terri R. Broussard, state advocacy director for the American Heart Association, said her group was not involved in the issue last year because it was helping to muster support statewide.

Broussard said 13 Louisiana municipalities that include about 1 million residents have smoking bans.

Last year the East Baton Rouge Metro Council passed an ordinance that bans smoking in most public places. Marionneaux’s bill says the proposed law would not restrict the ability of local governments to enact their own smoking laws as long as they comply with minimum rules spelled out in the bill.

About a dozen states already ban smoking in restaurants.

Jim Funk, chief executive officer for the Louisiana Restaurant Association, opposed the bill. He said restaurants know how to handle their customers and have generally banned smoking in dining rooms.

Funk said the bill would be unfair to restaurants that have installed expensive additions, such as cigar rooms, and those with bars within the facility.

“It is just simply not fair,” he said. Small mom-and-pop eating establishments, which can operate up to three video poker sites to lure customers, would also be hurt, Funk said.

Sen. Chris Ullo, D-Harvey and a committee member, praised Funk’s work but said the law would simply do for restaurant operators want they really want but are unwilling to do: ban smoking.

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