Tribe exemption from smoking ban backed

AUGUSTA – The Maine Senate reversed its stance Wednesday and agreed to exempt the Penobscot Indian Nation’s high-stakes bingo games from a statewide ban on smoking at beano events.

The bill now returns to the House, which approved the exemption Monday and which could take a final vote as early as today.

While majorities in both chambers favored banning smoking at all other bingo games, the bill was in danger of dying altogether for lack of agreement between the House and Senate over the exemption for Penobscot games. Last week, the Senate voted 19-14 in favor of the original bill and against an exemption for tribal games. The House on Monday, however, voted 74-55 in favor of the bill with the exemption.

Wednesday’s 17-15 Senate vote fell largely along party lines, with Sen. Bruce Bryant of Dixfield casting the lone Democratic vote against the motion.

“Clearly people wanted to preserve the intent of the bill; even though the amendment was initially something that was not supported by the Senate, it was passed in the House,” said Sen. Michael E. Brennan, D-Portland. “Rather than have the whole bill be lost, I think people recognized the larger good of banning smoking in bingo halls was a sufficient reason to support it while granting an exemption to Native Americans.”

The tribe’s high-stakes bingo games, held seven weekends per year, generate more than half of the Penobscots’ general fund for community services. Tribal Rep. Donna Loring said the Penobscot Nation had conducted a study to determine the financial loss that would result from a smoking ban at the high-stakes games and concluded emergency services on Indian Island would all but disappear if the bill as formerly written were to become law. Additionally, she said 75 part-time jobs related to the games would also be lost, along with some full-time jobs.

Many lawmakers feel strongly about smoking, which has been linked to increased health costs and worker absenteeism, and about the potential dangers to employees subjected to secondhand cigarette smoke inhalation. Others objected to the notion that the Legislature should be making laws that do not apply to all Maine residents.