May 9, 2007 1:57 pm US/Central
Smoking Ban Would Start In August If Approved
St. Paul (AP) ―
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The smoking ban now goes back to the Senate and House for up-or-down votes, with no changes allowed. Governor Pawlenty has said he would sign it. (File)
CBS
Smoking would be outlawed in bars, restaurants, private clubs and other workplaces on Aug. 1 under a House-Senate compromise that could get a vote this week.
A conference committee dominated by unyielding smoking ban supporters tossed out a plan Tuesday to let bars have ventilated indoor smoking rooms under certain conditions. They also decided against statewide rules for outdoor smoking, leaving that up to local officials instead.
The bill now returns to the Senate and House for final up-or-down votes, with no changes allowed. Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said he would sign a smoking ban into law.
The toughest test will come in the House, which last month approved the possibility of limited indoor smoking in bars. Customers could have smoked in separately ventilated rooms authorized by local officials, without food or drink service.
The House version also made exceptions for private clubs without employees, farm vehicles, construction equipment, farm land and a disabled veterans rest camp. None of those exemptions survived -- although a measure allowing smoking in heavy trucks remains in the final bill.
A provision that would have let actors smoke onstage also failed.
The committee went with the Senate's implementation date of Aug. 1, instead of Jan. 1, 2009, as envisioned by the House bill.
Rep. Tom Huntley, the House author, acknowledged that the House vote could be close.
"It's a huge change for Minnesota but it's in line with what other states are doing and what other countries are doing," said Huntley, DFL-Duluth.
Opponents of the smoking ban hope will push House Republicans to vote to send the bill back to conference committee for some changes, said Jim Farrell, head of the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association. They'll also appeal to Pawlenty.
"We have one last chance," he said in an e-mail.
The Republican governor has said he would prefer an exemption for VFWs and other private clubs, but spokesman Brian McClung has said Pawlenty would sign a ban even without such an exemption.
Also scrapped was a Senate provision to regulate outdoor smoking patios, also without service from employees. That would clear the way for counties and cities to crack down on outdoor smoking, or create their own system of regulating bar and restaurant patios.
"Our overall objective of the bill was clean indoor air," said Sen. Kathy Sheran of Mankato, the bill's Senate author.
The bill would leave local governments free to enact even stricter anti-smoking ordinances.
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Secondhand smoke is a leading cause of preventable death in the United
States. In 2005, it was estimated that, each year, exposure to
secondhand smoke in the United States kills more than 3,000 adult
nonsmokers from lung cancer and approximately 46,000 from coronary
heart disease.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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