WISCONSIN SENATE APPROVES WORKPLACE SMOKING BAN

Associated Press
Updated: 05/13/2009 09:03:49 PM CDT

MADISON, Wis. — The state Assembly quarreled over a statewide smoking ban Wednesday night with Republicans insisting the proposal passed earlier by the Senate would drive taverns and restaurants out of business.

Senate approval came Wednesday afternoon after more than four hours of debate. The Assembly got the bill about 5 p.m. and was still debating it at 8:30 p.m. with no end in sight.

Democrats who control both houses say the ban on smoking in most workplaces, a compromise between the state's powerful Tavern League and anti-smoking groups, will spare people the effects of secondhand smoke, saving tax dollars that would otherwise go to cover smoking-induced health problems.

Republicans said the ban trampled on business owners' rights to run their operations as they see fit. Assembly Republicans tried to tack more than two dozen amendments onto the bill in hopes of upsetting the fragile compromise and derailing the bill.

"If it's so good for businesses to have a no-smoking law, why wouldn't they do it themselves?" asked Rep. Bill Kramer, R-Waukesha.

Twenty-five other states, including Minnesota, already have gone smoke-free. But Wisconsin's Tavern League has stymied a statewide ban out of fear so many smoking customers would stay home that bars could go out of business.

Still, nearly 40 local governments have passed anti-smoking ordinances. The Tavern League says those regulations have created a patchwork that pits smoking bars against nonsmoking bars.

State politics shifted dramatically when Democrats took control of the full Legislature in last November's elections. With a ban looking inevitable, the tavern lobby and anti-smoking groups hammered out compromise legislation.

Under the bill, the ban would take effect in July 2010. Smokers who violate it would face fines of up to $250. Bar owners who don't try to stop smokers would first get a warning and then a $100 fine. Local governments couldn't pass any regulations stricter than the state ban.

The ban wouldn't apply to tribal casinos.

Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, the chief author of the bill, said the prohibition creates fair competition throughout the state and would save both lives and taxpayer dollars on health care expenses. A state Department of Health Services fiscal estimate attached to the bill said the measure would save about $754,000 in Medicaid expenses annually, with savings likely to grow over time.

"I don't have to tell you about the health effects of smoking," Risser told the Senate. "We all know it. It is the most preventable cause of illness in the state."

Senate Republicans — and some Democrats — tried to amend the bill to carve out the same exemptions as Assembly Republicans proposed, ranging from nursing homes to private country clubs. The most contentious amendment was a proposal from Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, that would have allowed hotels to permit smoking in up to 15 percent of their rooms.

Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, supported the idea, saying he was afraid travelers would pass through Wisconsin for hotels in Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa. Those states all have statewide smoking bans but allow smoking in a percentage of hotel rooms.

But Risser and Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, warned the amendments would upset the fragile compromise between the Tavern League and anti-smoking groups.

"It's not a tough thing to get off the bar stool and step outside and smoke," said Erpenbach, himself a smoker.

None of the amendments survived and the Senate ended up approving the full bill 25-8.

Assembly Republicans tried to key on the hotel amendment. Rep. Steve Kestell, R-Elkhart Lake, introduced a proposal that would allow hotels to permit smoking in 25 percent of their rooms.

Democrats tried to table the amendment but fell short after Reps. Gary Sherman, D-Port Wing, and Fred Clark, D-Baraboo, voted to keep it alive. After a confused huddle on the Assembly floor, Democrats voted again. This time Sherman and Clark voted to table. Sherman said he was working on a separate bill that would allow smoking in 25 percent of hotel rooms and had been promised a vote on the measure.

"I don't know what you told your mom-and-pop businesses, but I told them I'd leave them alone," said Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford. "Let them do their business as they see fit."

Tag Grotelueschen, 41, co-owner of the Club Garibaldi bar in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood, said it's "ludicrous" to regulate consumption of a legal product, but he's glad the ban would be statewide.

"If it were by municipality it would hurt the bars on the fringes, but if it's statewide I don't think it's going to hurt us," he said. "Customers might complain at first but I think they'll acclimate."

But businessman Bruce Andreasen, 62, of Milwaukee said he wouldn't go to bars any more if he has to step away from his drink to light up.

"Rather than meeting friends at a bar I'd suggest alternatives, like meeting at someone's home," he said. "This ban is definitely going to make me stay home."