Keep smoking ban strong

Not content with having acted with decency last year by voting to protect restaurant workers from tobacco smoke, lawmakers now are considering a bill to rollback these protections and give a pass to bowling alleys and pool halls on smoking restrictions. If the major gripe about last year’s ban was that it did not place restaurants and bars, where smoking is allowed, on a level playing field, this plan puts competitors on a Tilt-A-Whirl that promises to toss them all before the next session of the Legislature.

The legislation began as an attempt to help pool halls, which wanted to cater to both teen-agers and allow smoking. The 1999 law would not let them do this, except that they could accommodate smoking in a separate room that does not serve food or other services. There are only 16 licensed pool halls in Maine and, certainly, if they could demonstrate a financial burden caused by the smoking ban, lawmakers could find modifications that both protected workers and kept them in business.

But no sooner had the pool-hall proposal been made than the restaurant lobby appeared with an amendment that would allow smoking in a separately enclosed restaurant space. That is essentially the proposal the lobby fought against in 1997, saying, correctly, that small restaurants had neither space nor the money to build separate smoking rooms. Apparently, this doesn’t factor into the lobbying effort any more.

Restaurant complaints about the smoking law seems to come from a very few places, three or four owners who may never be happy with the rules. Perhaps so few are protesting because in the year since the ban was approved, restaurant revenues are up 4.5 percent, according to the Bureau of Revenue Services. That increase may partly be caused by the strong economy or partly by nonsmokers being more willing to eat out, but it is evidence enough to suggest that the ban will not kill business.

Cigarette smoke, on the other hand, kills people, including people who make the mistake of breathing near other people who are smoking. Protecting restaurant workers from this hazard was a prime reason for passing the ban last year; why are lawmakers now willing to ignore them for the sake of a few unhappy owners?

If the Legislature passes the restaurant smoking exemption this session, it can count on the owners of smaller restaurants coming back next year or the year after, looking for a blanket exemption to the ban because business has fallen off. There’s no good reason to hurt them economically or harm the health of restaurant workers. Better to keep the law as strong and fair as possible for as many people as possible.