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Panel nixes bill to exempt taverns from smoking ban

April M. Washington and Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 13, 2007 at midnight

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Smoking would be allowed in nursing homes but not in mom- and-pop bars, under two bills that met opposite fates Monday.

A measure permitting designated smoking areas in nursing homes was passed unanimously by the House Health and Human Services Committee.

But in the Senate, a bid to lift the state smoking ban in taverns was killed, despite three hours of emotional testimony from more than 30 bar owners, many of whom cried foul over the vote to exempt nursing homes.

"I don't understand the logic of all of this," said Bruce McCaughey, owner of Oasis Lounge in Littleton.

He and others blasted lawmakers for "cherry-picking" who would be subject to the smoking ban and contended neighborhood taverns should be treated the same as casinos, which already are exempt, and now possibly nursing homes.

The measure introduced by Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, would have given watering holes the option of paying an extra $500 for a special liquor license to allow for smoking.

Tochtrop decried the snuffing of her bill, saying the issue is one of fairness and basic economics.

"The Indoor Clean Air Act has not decreased smoking," she said. "It's just putting people out of business.

Opponents, however, argued that the controversial measure would create a gaping loophole in the act that went into effect July 1 banning smoking in most workplaces, restaurants, bars, bingo halls and private clubs.

The ban exempts casinos, cigar bars and smoking lounges at Denver International Airport.

The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted 3-2 to kill Senate Bill 103, with Democrats arguing it's a matter of public health and safety.

"The bill we passed last year is uneven," acknowledged Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver. "But we need to spend our time bringing establishments into the act rather than exempting them."

SB 103 was among two smoking measures considered Monday.

House Bill 1196 would allow residents of assisted-living and nursing-home facilities to smoke in enclosed, ventilated lounges.

The smoking ban's chief architect, House Minority Leader Mike May, said he introduced HB 1196 to fix a glitch in new law, which allowed residents of nursing and assisted-living facilities to smoke in their room because it's considered their home - not a public place.

Only later did lawmakers learn that smoking was banned in many nursing home rooms because piped-in oxygen "does cause people to blow up when they light a match," as the committee chairwoman, Rep. Anne McGihon, D-Denver, put it.

"Forcing them to go outside where they live was never the intent of the smoking bill," said May, R-Parker.

Speaking against lifting the ban in bars were representatives of the American Heart Association, American Lung Association and GASP of Colorado.

They contend there is little proof that bars are going under because of the smoking ban.

The two dissenting Republicans called the smoking ban flawed.

"This really shows the unintended consequences of the bills we run up here," said Sen. David Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs. "I opposed the smoking ban. As long as tobacco is a legal substance, we have no business of legislating it out of existence."

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