The latest attempt to ban smoking in most of Colorado’s public places faces serious threats as it heads to the House floor Friday.
A variety of lobbyists are pushing hard for exemptions to the proposal, which backers say would simply force them to kill the bill.
Perhaps the biggest fight is being led by bars. So-called mom-and-pop taverns want an amendment to House Bill 1175 that would exempt bars that generate less than 25 percent of their sales from food.
Behind the scenes, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. is helping the taverns make their case.
Chuck Ford of the Colorado Licensed Beverage Association said he has enough votes to exempt his taverns.
“This is not a partisan issue,” said Ford, who has argued that such a ban would put small bars out of business.
But Republican Rep. Mike May, the bill’s sponsor, said he will fight all comers who try to carve out exemptions for special interests.
Besides, May said he has “way over” the 33 votes needed to kill Ford’s amendment. And, he said, he has “sufficient commitments for not Balkanizing the bill.”
The only exemptions in the bill now are for casino floors, the DIA smoking lounge, cigar bars, smoke shops, small businesses and family farms.
But if any of the proposed amendments – and there is a slew of them – are successfully added, May said, he’ll ask that the bill be killed.
Republican Gov. Bill Owens would most likely sign the bill but is staying out of the debate over exemptions, a spokesman said.
Exemptions for bingo parlors, racetracks and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts are just a few of the expected amendments, May said.
On Wednesday, May and House Speaker Pro Tem Cheri Jahn, D-Wheat Ridge, discussed making sure that whoever runs the floor debate Friday either supports the bill or is neutral.
An opponent, May said, could use the rules to make life more difficult for supporters.
Exemptions are unacceptable, May said, because establishments, such as restaurants, that are included in the ban would lose business to those that can allow smoking.
Restaurants and watering holes are already hurt by local smoking bans because customers can cross the town’s boundaries to find a place to smoke, May said.
And while the public face of the tavern amendment is small bars, May said, nightclubs and gentlemen clubs would also be exempted.
“The strip clubs and the big discos want to be exempt, but they put the mom and pops out front … to put a nice little face on what the truth is,” May said.
If the exemption for taverns is added, Ford said, he hopes May does not kill the bill. That way, if citizens decide to put an outright ban on the ballot this November, they could argue that the legislature has already taken care of the issue.
But May makes that sound unlikely.
“If the legislature isn’t willing to deliver what the voters want, it wouldn’t be the first time the citizens took the law into their own hands and passed it themselves,” May said.
Kelley Brooks, who represents RJ Reynolds, said exempting mom-and-pop taverns would be a great compromise. Her mother and lobbying partner, Becky Brooks, said, “It still gives some of our customers an outlet for the places they can go after work.”
A spokesman for Philip Morris said the company does not take positions on smoking bans.
Pete Meersman of the Colorado Restaurant Association said he has a team of lobbyists working to persuade lawmakers to support the bill without amendments. The group’s members are also calling their lawmakers to voice their opinions, he said.
Ford maintains that Meersman’s group is trying to put his taverns out of business, and that would send customers to the latter’s member establishments. Taverns depend largely on smokers, he explained.
Mike Smith, a regular at Sam’s No. 3 diner in Aurora, said that if the smoking ban passes, he’ll eat more at home.
“And I’m a lousy cook,” said Smith, of Denver.
Last year, a Denver Post review showed that in the months after a local smoking ban was enacted, Colorado cities averaged a 6.7 percent increase in sales- tax collections at taverns and restaurants. Only one town lost money.
Lee Driscoll, chief executive of Wynkoop Holdings Inc., which owns eight restaurants in Denver, said he thinks the ban would be good for business.
“Over the long term, people will come around and think it’s the right decision,” he said. “People will recognize it is in the public interest.”
Staff writer Katherine Crowell contributed to this report.
Staff writer Chris Frates can be reached at 303-820-1633 or cfrates@denverpost.com.
