Restaurant smoking bill passes House committee

A bill to ban smoking in Virginia’s bars and restaurants cleared the House of Delegates General Laws Committee this evening by a 16-6 vote.
The bill will now go to the full House.
The committee action came on the same day that Republican House Speaker William J. Howell and Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine reached agreement on the proposed legislation.

Flanked by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, Howell and Kaine discussed the legislation that would make exceptions for private clubs and restaurants with a designated smoking room that is physically separated and independently ventilated from non-smoking dining areas.

The bill would also exclude any permanent outdoor patio area of a restaurant, any portion of a restaurant used just for private functions and street-side mobile food stands.

Howell and Kaine cooperated to forge the agreement.

But legislators said the compromise did not include any guaranteed passage by the House, which has been hostile to anti-smoking bills. The bill will be carried by a Republican in the House and a Democrat in the Senate.

“The compromise strikes a fair balance between the rights of smokers who choose to enjoy a legal product and the rights of other individuals who want to enjoy a smoke-free environment when eating at a restaurant,“ Howell said this morning in a news conference.

Keenan Caldwell, director of government relations for the American Cancer Society of Virginia, said health groups had no role in crafting the proposed compromise. He said the groups were still reviewing the proposal.

“Our hope has always been something that protects the health of workers,“ Caldwell said. “At first glance, as you look at (the compromise), it doesn’t do that, and it is not really in the interest of public health, so that is a major concern of ours.“

But Sara Long, director of program services for the March of Dimes, said she was encouraged to see the state “taking baby steps to help the babies.“

David Sutton, a spokesman for cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, expressed skepticism.

“While this bill attempts to provide a compromse, we believe that some of the provisions go too far,“ he said. “It would impose significant costs in a very difficult economy on business owners that would like to accommodate smokers in their establishments.“

And some conservative grass-roots organizations were not happy with the deal.

Ben Marchi, with Americans for Prosperity, said about Howell, “The activists he will depend on this fall, many of whom are members of groups like ours, will not be pleased that he has caved to the advocates of big government, namely the governor.

“We feel it is unfortunate that the speaker has chosen to trust government to solve our problems rather than to trust consumers with the decision.“

If passed, the bill would make Virginia part of a growing list of states passing legislation to curb smoking in restaurants. Twenty-three other states, including Maryland, have passed bans on smoking indoors at bars and restaurants, as have the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

In Virginia, smoking was banned in all state buildings and vehicles under an executive order signed in 2006 by Kaine.

State legislators, in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle, proposed 14 smoking ban bills this year, according to Kaine’s office. In addition to that high interest, Howell said he thinks a compromise was forged this year because “both sides were willing to yield.“

The Senate backed total bans, including private clubs, Howell said, and the House was unwilling to adopt such a broad prohibition.

“You’re gonna tell a guy that fought at the Battle of the Bulge that he can’t have a cigarette with his coffee at the VFW club,“ Howell said. “You can’t do things like that.“

Under the legislation, violators would be subject to a fine of no more than $25.

The agreement follows the rejection earlier this week by legislators of a key component of Kaine’s budget-cutting plan involving tobacco—a 30 cent per pack hike in the tax on cigarettes. Kaine had hoped to raise $147 million with the tax, which he said would help prevent further cuts in Medicaid and offesty the $400 million or so it costs the state to treat smoking related illnesses under the program.

Second-hand smoke is responsible for an estimated 1,700 deaths per year, according to the Virginia Department of Health. In addition, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids estimates the Commonwealth spends $113 million a year on health care expenditures related to exposure to second-hand smoke.

How the bill will fare on the floor of the full House is uncertain.

“I’m never confident down here,“ Howell said. “I’m surprised very day.“

—Olympia Meola, Jim Nolan and Tyler Whitley,