At a glance
Thirty-five states have smoking bans of some kind. Of those, 23 have smoke-free laws considered by anti-smoking advocates to be comprehensive, including Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. Six states ban smoking in restaurants and bars but not all workplaces.
In Indiana, House Bill 1149 would create a smoking ban in public places, most workplaces, certain state vehicles and within 12 feet of public entrances to public places and workplaces. Local governments would be allowed to adopt stricter measures.
Exemptions in the House version of the bill include retail tobacco shops, casinos, cigar and hookah bars, non-profit private or fraternal organizations, including veterans halls, if members vote every two years to retain smoking; they could not allow children on the premises.
The smoking rate among Hoosiers in 2010 was 21 percent, down from 27 percent in 2001, according to state-based health surveys. The median smoking rate in the U.S, was 17.3 percent in 2010.
The annual economic costs of secondhand smoke in Indiana is estimated at $1.3 billion, based on $327 million in direct health-care costs and $978 million from premature loss of life in 2010, according to the Bowen Research Center at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
INDIANAPOLIS — After years of debate, the Indiana legislature may be getting closer to passing a statewide smoking ban, but the issue may still remain heated.
In states that have passed similar laws, opponents have taken to the courts to challenge the ban’s constitutionality.
So far, no state ban has been overturned because of legal issues, but the court fights continue to be waged.
Meanwhile, some states are grappling with enforcing their bans, having to rely on self-enforcement for the bans to work.
Even some local smoking bans are facing challenges: A judge in Muncie threw out a lawsuit challenging that community’s beefed-up smoking ban last year, but plaintiffs are challenging it on appeal.
Their argument: Smoking bans aimed at reducing exposure to second-hand smoke are based on “junk science.”
Backers of the smoking ban bill making its way through the Indiana General Assembly are optimistic that it will pass and become law this year. And that it will stand up in court, if it ends up there.
“If it is challenged by anyone, I don’t think they’ll be successful,” said state Rep. Eric Turner, a Republican from Cicero, who sponsored the bill with a Democrat from Gary, Rep. Charlie Brown.
This is sixth year the Indiana legislature has considered a statewide smoking ban.
One of the reasons it’s controversial is that carves out exemptions: Smoking will be still be allowed in casinos, cigar and hookah bars, retail tobacco stores, and nonprofit private clubs and fraternal organizations. It gives bars and taverns 18 months to comply with the ban.
Tavern owners like Gregory Kitts, who owns Rebel’s Pub in Marion, thinks that’s unfair. He said at least 70 percent of his patrons are smokers and will find someplace else to go.
“If you’re going to do a ban, then at least do a complete ban,” said Kitts. “The legislature should be leveling the playing field.”
In Indiana, casinos were carved out for financial reasons. Their lobbyists argued that banning smoking in casinos would hurt their business and, in turn, cut deeply into the gaming revenues the state collects.
How much impact it would have is unknown. But the Legislative Services Agency, the non-partisan arm of the General Assembly, estimates the state would lose $10.6 million to $21.2 million every year if the ban covers the state’s two racinos — the racetracks where patrons can also gamble on slot machines.
The smoking prohibition, if imposed on the state’s two racinos, is estimated to reduce county slot machine wagering tax revenue to Madison County by $500,000 to $1.1 million annually and to Shelby County by $700,000 to $1.4 million each year.
The carve-out may be good for the state, but it’s the kind of exemption that has prompted lawsuits in other states. In South Dakota, for example, a video poker establishment owner sued the state last year, claiming South Dakota’s ban is unconstitutional because it doesn’t apply to everyone equally. The South Dakota ban exempts cigar bars and smoke shop owners.
Kitts, who testified against the bill, doesn’t like the thought of a lawsuit, though he’s leaving it open as an option. “A lawsuit would cost me a lot of money.” he said.
A similar lawsuit challenging smoking ban exemptions was brought in Ohio, a state which faces another kind of challenge: Last summer, the Dayton Daily News reported the state had only collected only one-third of the $2.2 million in fines levied on facilities that violated Ohio’s smoking ban since enforcement began in 2007. The newspaper also found that the percentage of fines collected declined every year, from 81 percent in 2007 to 26 percent last year.
It’s too early to know what, if any, challenges would be brought against an Indiana smoking ban. Muncie attorney Bruce Munson represents taverns owners who brought a lawsuit to overturn a local smoking ban in Delaware County. He argued the ban was based on what he calls the “junk science” that connects secondhand smoke to cancer. A trial court dismissed the lawsuit, but it’s on appeal.
The House has approved the statewide smoking ban bill, but it still has to get through the state Senate where there are skeptics.
Among them is Sen. Mike Delph, an Indianapolis Republican who plans to file a slew of amendments to the bill, which is expected to come to a vote early next week.
Delph objects to the idea that the casinos have been carved out because they generate so much tax revenue for the state. “We need to have a discussion about what this bill is truly about,” Delph said. “Is this about public health and saving lives or is this about getting revenue for the state? We can’t have it both ways.”
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