JEFFERSON CITY Mo. A bipartisan bill in the Missouri House of Representatives proposes a statewide ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, among other enclosed public and employment places, and in some outdoor settings.
The measure, House Bill 1766, is sponsored by Walt Bivins, R-St. Louis, and has 19 co-sponsors, including Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur.
Passage of the bill would make Missouri the 31st state, as well as the District of Columbia, to ban smoking in restaurants, according to the American Lung Association. North Carolina restaurants and bars fell under a statewide smoke ban on Jan. 2, and Michigan restaurant and bars will be covered by a statewide ban as of May 1.
Among other provisions, the proposed Missouri law would also prohibit smoking outdoors within 15 feet of building entrances, operable windows and ventilation systems for spaces where smoking is prohibited.
If passed by the House and Senate and signed by the governor, HB 1766 would become law on Jan. 2, 2011, requiring businesses and employers to post no smoking signs, remove ashtrays, and inform guests and employees who light up that such acts are prohibited. As proposed, the measure would subject businesses whose owners or employees fail to follow its provisions to fines of $50 to $500 a day and the loss or suspension of associated operating licenses.
HB 1766 would not prohibit local jurisdictions in that state from enacting more stringent anti-smoking measures and that may put the measure on a collision course with the Missouri Restaurant Association. Following the passage of a St. Louis County ballot measure to ban smoking in restaurants and other public places, MRA officials said the trade group would not endorse smoking regulations, but neither would it oppose one that eschews exemptions and puts all businesses “on a level playing field.”
As a result of that November vote, smoking will be banned in most public places, including restaurants, in unincorporated St. Luis County and the City of St. Louis beginning in 2011. The MRA had opposed the ballot measure because it exempted from the smoking ban drinking establishments where food sales represent 25 percent or less of total revenues, putting restaurants with bars at a disadvantage when it came to serving smoking customers.
In some of the states that now ban smoking in restaurants, such as in Virginia, operators may permit smoking in walled off areas with separate ventilation systems. According to the American Lung Association, all but five of the states banning smoking in restaurants also prohibit it in freestanding bars.
Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].
