INDIANAPOLIS — Whether the Indiana General Assembly will pass legislation imposing a statewide smoking ban is now up to the Indiana Senate.
Senators have been cool to the idea over the years with similar legislation dying five times in the chamber.
But with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels throwing his support behind a ban and House leadership contending this year’s proposal hits a sweet spot in terms of balancing exemptions, a key senator confirmed the bill will have a committee hearing within the next two weeks.
“I think the foundation of the bill is sound,” state Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, said. “I do approve of the exemptions that are in the bill. I think they are going to have to remain in to make it out of committee.”
The House’s bill gives bars an 18-month transitional period to adhere to the ban and exempts entire gaming facilities, including bars and facilities on a casino’s property. Cigar and hookah bars and fraternal, social and veterans organizations also are exempted under certain conditions.
Last year, the number of exemptions weakened the proposed ban to the point that it failed to move forward. Now that the bill is in the Senate, Alting said organizations, including nursing homes, are making similar pitches for exemptions this year.
Yet, Alting stressed that the majority of exemptions the House included in the proposed ban make sense.
“It’s trying to find a balance that you can get a bill out that will save as many lives as you can from smoking and second-hand smoking.” Alting said. “But the fact that you are going to go nonsmoking throughout the entire state of Indiana without any exemptions, history has told us in the five years it’s come out of House it’s always had those exemptions in it.”
State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, wants the bill to remain as the House passed it.
Brown, who has led the cause for a statewide smoking ban for several years, said the legislation gives bars ample time to adjust to the ban.
“We cannot have it both ways,” Brown said. “First of all, my major objective ... was a total smoke-free ban so there have been many compromises on the bill as it currently stands.”