I-901 bans bar smoking

COLUMBIA BASIN — Supporters of Initiative 901 argue that the proposal will help save lives lost to diseases linked to secondhand smoke, but critics say the proposed ban on smoking in facilities like bars and taverns will dramatically reduce business and is a violation of private property rights.

The proposed initiative would expand public smoking bans to public places including: Schools, bars, bowling alleys, skating rinks and casinos that currently are not impacted by smoking laws.

"I-901 is a reasonable attempt to now have all employees work smoke-free," said Marina Cofer-Wildsmith, CEO of the American Lung Association of Washington.

I-901 supporting documents state that that while most workplaces have been protected from secondhand smoke, 225,000 workers in the state are currently susceptible to secondhand smoking at their jobs.

Cofer-Wildsmith said that by reducing smoking in the workplace, there will be fewer sick days and fewer issues relating to illness from secondhand smoke.

She said the issue isn't a smoker's rights issue, because when someone smokes in public it crosses through the air that everyone breathes. She called the initiative a common sense approach to reducing secondhand smoke in the workplace.

"All in all," Cofer-Wildsmith said, "it's going to save society money and we're going to save lives."

The law would prohibit smoking within 25 feet of doorways and ventilation openings from buildings open to the public and places of employment. Under the proposal, at least 75 percent of motel and hotel rooms would also need to be smoke-free.

The Washington Secretary of State's office said the measure would have no significant financial impact on state or local governments, but could result in an increase in infractions. Violators of the law would be charged $100, the same rate as they are charged now for smoking violations.

But critics of the plan say that while state governments will see no impact, businesses will see a large drop in patrons who they said will go to tribal facilities which are exempt from the legislation.

Dave Wilkinson is with the No on 901 campaign, and he said the guiding principal of his campaign is that smoking bans are fundamentally unfair. He talked about the drop in business revenues when a similar ban was passed in Pierce County, and he said the reason places allow smoking is because that's what the public wants.

"We're talking about bars and taverns," Wilkinson said in calling the ban restrictive, "we're talking about private property."

He said what happens on private property should end on that property line. What the No on 901 campaign is against is the government coming in, and Wilkinson said patrons will just go to places like tribal facilities. Wilkinson said the reason places like bars and taverns survive is because they allow smoking and because customers dictate the policy.

Bobbie Bottem agrees. The owner of the Hang Out Restaurant and Lounge in Moses Lake said about 80 percent of her customers are smokers.

"It scares me what it's going to do to business, it really does," Bottem said.

Bottem said most of her employees smoke, and said a smoking ban could make the difference on those employees losing jobs if business goes down too drastically.

"There's dangers in every job, and I just think its an associated risk that when you work at a bar that it comes with the territory," sad Travis Laibl, owner of the Sand Bar in Moses Lake.

Laibl said he wouldn't have a problem with the initiative if smoking were banned in just the bar itself, but he said the part that stipulates the 25 feet way would prohibit smoking in his beer garden as well, a beer garden he said he built to expand his business.

"I imagine it would definitely decrease my business if that went into effect," he said.

Initiative 901 will go to voters on the November ballot, which will be mailed out in Grant County in the next few weeks.