Three state senators introduced a bill Tuesday that would use Lincoln's law as a model to ban smoking across the state at all workplaces, including bars and restaurants.
JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 6:00 pm
Waverly’s Trackside Bar enjoys the benefits of the Lincoln smoking ban, attracting customers who travel from the Capital City to smoke a cigarette with a glass of beer.
But three state senators are trying to change that, introducing a bill Tuesday that would use Lincoln’s law as a model to ban smoking across the state at all workplaces, including bars and restaurants.
“It would be very harsh on business for us,” said Katie Bennett, a waitress at the Trackside.
The bar is packed on Friday and Saturday nights, she said, thanks in part to the Lincoln smoking ban.
And if Waverly and the rest of the state had to join Lincoln bars and restaurants, some of the Trackside business would disappear.
Sen. Joel Johnson of Kearney joined Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island and Sen. Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center in introducing LB395, which would make it illegal to smoke in a workplace or any indoor public place.
It would also keep outside tobacco smoke at least 20 feet from entrances, windows and ventilation systems of enclosed areas where smoking is prohibited.
Johnson said it’s time the state had a uniform law rather than a jigsaw puzzle that pits city against city and business against business.
It would be a major step toward improving the health of Nebraskans and saving money for the state, he said.
And it has a good chance of passing this year, he said.
“I think times are changing,” he said.
Lincoln banned smoking two years ago in all indoor places of employment, including bars and restaurants.
Omaha followed with a partial ban last year that keeps people from smoking in most places, but allows it until 2011 at bars that do not serve food, at Horsemen’s Park racetrack and at keno outlets that applied for licenses before June 8.
Other cities, such as Grand Island, Kearney and Hastings, have considered bans but each seems reluctant to be the first, Johnson said.
In November, Lexington residents voted down a ban.
Norma Wigstone, owner of the Leprechaun Café in Lexington, said she opposed a local ban but thinks it’s more practical for the state to pass one.
Most businesses in Lexington are smoke free, she said. Only about five workplaces would have been affected, including her restaurant, a couple of bars, a veteran’s club and a bowling alley.
She allows smoking, but most of her customers smoke only when no one else will be bothered.
Lexington residents rejected the ban, she said, because they didn’t want government telling private businesses how to operate.
The senators have been gathering support from other senators, Aguilar said, and have 22 new senators to weigh in on the issue.
And starting with a more stringent ban leaves room to negotiate, he said.
Besides Johnson, Stuthman and Aguilar, five other senators have signed on in support of the statewide ban, including Tom Hansen of North Platte, Lowen Kruse of Omaha, Dave Pankonin of Louisville, Don Preister of Bellevue and DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln.
Stuthman believes Lincoln’s success gives the statewide ban a better chance to be accepted.
“Where people are congregating, in a workplace, there should be clean air,” he said.
David Holmquist, director of legislative and governmental relations for the American Cancer Society High Plains Division in Omaha, agrees the time is right.
Many businesses that oppose local bans do so because they single out some and allow others to benefit.
But the most important issue to consider is the health of employees, who have a right to work in smoke-free air, Holmquist said.
Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States, he said.
But Trackside waitress Bennett said she doesn’t mind working in a smoky environment.
Many people who work in bars are smokers or former smokers.
“If you don’t want to work in that environment, don’t apply,” she said.
Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.