INDIANAPOLIS — Proponents of a statewide smoking ban plan to bring their fight back to the Indiana Statehouse in January, but hope this time around they can keep it free of the exemptions that sunk its passage in past years.
That hope, though, may be dashed by political reality. At a legislative preview luncheon last week, a key gatekeeper of bills, Indiana Senate President Pro Tem David Long, (R-Fort Wayne) said if smoking ban supporters are willing to compromise, “they might get it past the finish line” in the 2012 session.
At issue is a smoking ban bill that advocates say would bring Indiana into line with 25 states that have comprehensive indoor smoking bans. For the sixth year in a row, bill backers plan to push for such legislation when the Indiana General Assembly convenes on Jan. 4.
“We think there’s growing support to make Indiana smoke-free,” said Amanda Estridge, a spokeswoman for the Indiana chapter of the American Cancer Society, which played a key role in both supporting a smoking ban bill in the last session and killing it when it was laden with exemptions.
Estridge cites a series of state and national polls that indicate more public support for smoking bans that cover public places. A 2010 poll of four rural Indiana counties, for example, found that 66 percent of rural Hoosiers would support a comprehensive bill like the one introduced last session in the Indiana House by Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, and Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero.
The bill faltered after other House members added exemptions for bars, casinos, nursing homes, fraternal clubs and smoke shops. The amended bill was sent to the Indiana Senate, where it was voted down by that chamber’s Public Policy Committee, whose members said they disliked the exemptions.
At the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s legislative preview before Thanksgiving, Long blamed bill advocates for its demise for not accepting some compromise. “They got 95 percent of what they wanted ...,” Long said. “Ninety-five percent of the loaf is a fairly big win in our part of the world.”
Estridge doesn’t see it that way. “We can’t just take something over nothing,” she said. “We don’t want a law that would weaken the smoke-ordinances already in place in local communities around the state.” To date, 41 municipalities have some form of a local smoke-free law, including 14 that cover bars.
The bill’s exemptions have been justified by legislators who argued a comprehensive smoking ban would harm business by forcing smoking patrons to flee. But at the legislative preview lunch, Minority leader Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, said there might be more willingness to accept a comprehensive bill as an increasing number of cities and counties around the state pass their own smoking bans.
“Our bars haven’t lost any business,” Simpson said Monroe County, where smoking is banned in workplaces, including restaurants and bars. “In fact, they’re fuller than ever.”
Earlier this year, officials with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health predicted that by 2020 every state would have bans on smoking in restaurants, bars and the workplace. They based that prediction on the current pace of anti-smoking laws adopted around the nation.
The CDC said the number of states with comprehensive indoor smoking bans went from zero in 2000 to 25 in 2010. The CDC also said another 10 states have laws that ban smoking in workplaces, bars or restaurants, but not in all three venues. Another eight states have less restrictive laws, like requiring smoking areas with separate ventilation. The CDC said only seven states, including Indiana, have no statewide indoor smoking restrictions. The other states include Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.
This summer, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he also sees growing public support for a statewide ban and that he thought chances for its passage were increasing. The governor also said he wanted to see the percent of adult Hoosiers who smoke drop to 20 percent by the end of his term next year. According to the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, released earlier this year, Indiana’s smoking rate dropped to 21.1 percent in 2010, a historic low.
During the six years that bill backers have tried but failed to pass a ban, the questions about exemptions have dominated the debate. While state lawmakers have dithered, local communities have moved to act on their own.
The state’s capital city of Indianapolis has a limited smoking ban that covers workplaces and restaurants, but may soon move to make it more comprehensive. Both Republicans and Democrats on the City-County Council said they want an expanded smoking ban ordinance.
The current Republican president of the City-County Council announced this week he would introduce an expanded smoking ban ordinance in time for it to take effect before February’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis. A group of Indianapolis bar owners said they’d back such a proposal but only if it includes no exemptions for private clubs and other competitors.
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