DENVER-
State lawmakers won’t clarify which bars will be exempt from the statewide smoking ban this year.
On Tuesday, Sen. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, asked a Senate committee to kill the proposal (House Bill 1108) because there wasn’t enough time left in the session to work out all the issues.
Cigar bars, along with casinos and the smoking lounge at Denver International Airport, were exempt from the ban which took effect last summer. Some bars which sold a lot of cigarettes before the law took effect argued they qualified as cigar bars.
The bill, which had been approved by the House, said only the sales of cigar or cigar tobacco, not cigarettes, would make a bar eligible for the exemption.
Lawmakers are still considering whether to ban smoking in casinos. Last week the Senate said that shouldn’t happen until cigar bars and the airport smoking lounge also go smoke-free, but supporters are still hoping to get rid of that amendment.
