Tobacco.org

Tobacco tax bill won't quit 

Give House Speaker Pro Tem Karen Carter Peterson points for persistence. Peterson's main priority for the legislative session, upping the tobacco tax to help stave off health-care budget cuts, ran head-first into Gov. Bobby Jindal's opposition to all taxes, fees, and even delayed tax cuts, despite an expected $1.3 billion budget shortfall. This was a proposal that was thought to be dead on arrival.

Yet here we are, two weeks from the session's end, and the measure is showing surprising signs of life. . . .

Could the bill really pass, or are its newfound backers just looking to grab a bargaining chip, or brush back a governor who has had his way with them for much of the session?

And what does Jindal do now?

That he has to think about the tobacco tax at all at this late stage is a personal victory of sorts for Peterson.

It's also a sign that the Legislature has successfully delivered a message to Jindal: He's not the only one who gets to decide what's on or off the table.

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Louisiana House panel OKs higher cigarette taxes  

Louisiana should raise cigarette taxes by 50 cents per pack, with similar increases for cigars and chewing tobacco, and use the proceeds on cancer research and smoking prevention and cessation programs, a House committee voted Monday.

Rep. Karen Carter Peterson's bill would raise an estimated $92 million in the fiscal year that begins next month, and nearly $500 million over the next five years, according to the Legislative Fiscal Office. Peterson, D-New Orleans, cited polls showing higher tobacco taxes are popular among voters as a way to pay for health care.

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• Smoking ban snuffed out in committee 

Efforts to further restrict smoking in public venues appear dead for the 2009 regular legislative session.

The death knell came as the Louisiana House Health and Welfare Committee voted overwhelmingly against state Senate-passed legislation even after being “watered-down.”

Senate Bill 186 would have banned smoking in all Louisiana bars, casinos and other gambling establishments. That was the version the Senate passed May 28 on a 22-10 vote.

During House committee testimony Tuesday, SB186 sponsor state Rep. Rob Marionneaux proposed a compromise that would have banned smoking only at bars that sell food.

Marionneaux said he had seen the handwriting on the wall as gambling interests helped shoot down a similar House bill when it came up on the floor last week.

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House committee snuffs out bill to ban smoking in bars  

The final embers of the effort to expand Louisiana's indoor smoking ban were extinguished this morning, when a House committee killed a bill that would have banned smoking in bars that sell food.

The House Health and Welfare Committee voted 11-6 to derail Senate Bill 186 by Sen. Rob Marionneaux Jr., D-Livonia, after amending the measure to keep smoking legal in casinos and bars that don't sell food.

Its defeat follows a lopsided vote by the full House last week to kill a broader measure that would have outlawed smoking in all indoor public venues, including gambling establishments and bars.

As it came to the committee, the bill was virtually identical to the one that died on the House floor. With that vote in mind, Marionneaux scaled back the legislation to only cover bars.

Supporters of the bill said existing law creates an uneven playing field between restaurants -- defined as establishments that get more than half their revenues from the sale of food -- and bars. Restaurants have had a smoking ban in effect since 2007

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Tobacco Bill Faces Governor Jindal, House Committee 

At 9:00 a.m., Monday, June 8th, the Louisiana Healthier Families Act will be heard before the House Ways and Means Committee, announced Speaker Pro Tempore Karen Carter Peterson.

The Louisiana Healthier Families Act was originally introduced before the Ways and Means Committee on April 28, proposing a $1.00 tax increase on tobacco products. However, the measure failed to pass with 7 yeas to 11 nays. The bill is being reintroduced as HB 889, imposing a moderated $0.50 increase on tobacco products.

"I've always been told, 'if at first you don't succeed, try, try again,'" said Rep. Peterson.

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Pinnacle Entertainment Up As Louisiana Defeats Smoking Ban 

Shares of casino operator Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. (PNK) jumped as much as 14% Wednesday, a day after the Louisiana legislature overwhelmingly rejected a bill to expand the state's smoking ban to include bars and casinos.

Pinnacle has a significant amount of its operations in Louisiana, and analysts have expressed concerns that a smoking ban in casinos could weigh on Pinnacle's results.

"If you have three hours to gamble, and you spend half an hour outside smoking, it's less time on the device, so you don't lose as much money gambling," Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Brian McGill told Dow Jones Newswires, adding that other people who have to go outside to smoke will end up just leaving the casino.

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• House rejects smoking ban, 29-71  

Citing the potential for harming businesses, the House today overwhelmingly rejected a move to broaden the state's indoor smoking ban to include bars and gambling establishments.

The 29-71 vote on House Bill 844 by Rep. Gary Smith followed more than an hour of debate and several attempts to change the bill, most of which were turned away.

Supporters of the measure said it was a public health measure designed to protect patrons and workers in bars and casinos from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke, and would create a level playing field between restaurants, bars and casinos.

Smoking has been banned in restaurants since 2007.

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Smoking ban bill clears full Senate 

Smoking in bars and casinos would be prohibited under legislation endorsed Thursday by the Senate.

The Senate voted 22-10 for the proposed law after senators rejected separate amendments seeking to remove bars and casinos from the ban.

When the state adopted the Louisiana Smoke Free Air Act in 2006, smoking was banned in restaurants but allowed in bars and casinos.

“This bill puts everyone on equal footing … restaurants, bars and casinos,” said Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Grosse Tete, sponsor of Senate Bill 186. “It’s the right thing to do so one business is not put at a disadvantage over another.”

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• Senate approves bill to ban smoking in bars and casinos  

The Senate overwhelmingly agreed to legislation this morning that would expand Louisiana's smoking ban to include bars and casinos.

The 22-10 vote on Senate Bill 186 by Sen. Rob Marionneaux Jr., D-Livonia, came after lawmakers rejected two attempts to weaken the legislation and sets up a showdown on the House floor, where a similar bill awaits a vote.

Marionneaux said the bill is designed to "put everyone on an equal footing."

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Jindal doesn't support ban on smoking in bars, but won't veto it if it passes  

Gov. Bobby Jindal said he doesn't support a proposal that would ban smoking in Louisiana bars and gambling facilities. But he also said Tuesday that he won't veto the measure if it reaches his desk.

"Personally, I think adults can make decisions for themselves," Jindal said at a wide-ranging briefing with reporters, when asked about the smoking ban bill.

He said many bills proposed this session, like the smoking ban, seem like "nanny state" measures. However, he added of the smoking ban, "I don't feel strongly enough that I would veto that bill."

Both the House and Senate will consider whether Louisiana's ban on smoking in restaurants and most buildings should extend to bars and gambling facilities.

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Smokers Feel Burned By Bar-Ban Proposal  

Alan Penn is a regular at Igor's Bar on St. Charles Avenue, and he's not happy that some state lawmakers are looking to pass a bill to ban smoking in bars and casinos.

On Wednesday morning, a state Senate committee unanimously agreed to legislation that closely mirrors an anti-smoking bill that won preliminary approval in the House on Tuesday.

"We were here first," said Penn. "That's the way I look at it. We (smokers) were here first ... Everybody does it. This is where they come to relax. They want to smoke a cigarette and have a drink and be sociable."

Penn said if the state Legislature burns smokers, he might stop going to bars. The manager said 75 percent of his customers like to light up, and if they can't, it'll hurt business.

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LA considers ban on smoking in bars/casinos  

"It's gonna hit us right in the mouth." For some like Brandon "Bear" Trant, owner of Bear's Lounge in Shreveport, the sucker punch is coming straight from the fist of the state of Louisiana, in the form of a possible smoking ban that would put the flame out on smokers.

"It's kind silly that they would even consider it," says Trant. The state of Louisiana is considering legislation that would prohibit smoking at bars, casinos, and off-track betting facilities. Trant says the move would drive customers away, and change the way he does business.

"If people don't want to come here because of the smoking, you don't have to come," says Trant. Smoking inside of restaurants, public places and buildings and most places of employment has been banned since a previous law was passed back in January 2007

Lawmakers believe the new proposal helps to protect the workers in these fields, but some smokers like Jack Davis say, "It's not going to happen."

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3 restaurants’ rezoning OK’d to end problems 

The Metro Council on Wednesday approved rezonings for three restaurants that had drawn fire from state Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control for operating as bars.

ATC officials had turned up the heat on The Caterie on Perkins Road for allowing cigarette smoking late at night after it converts from a restaurant to a music venue.

The two other restaurants -- Vincent's City Club on Florida Boulevard and the Exclusive Restaurant and Bar at North Acadian Thruway and Charles Street -- had both been told by ATC officials to get rezoned in order to operate as bars late at night.

In the case of The Caterie, co-owner John Hill said he was seeking the rezoning in order to compete with two nearby bars that serve food and allow cigarette smoking.

"I'm here tonight to save the remaining jobs we have left," Hill told the council.

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Senate committee approves measure 

Legislation to ban smoking in bars is now building steam in the state Senate as well as the House.

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday approved without objection a bill to ban smoking in bars and casinos, one day after a similar bill was narrowly approved by the House’s health committee.

State Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Grosse Tete, initially proposed Senate Bill 186 as a means to outlaw smoking only in bars that serve food.

He said his intent was to eliminate an unfair advantage that bars with food have over restaurants that can no longer have smoking sections. He also spoke of limiting second-hand smoking in bars.

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Debate on indoor smoking in public places reignited  

Louisiana's public smoking ban would be expanded to include bars and casinos under a bill that narrowly escaped a House committee Tuesday over the objections of bar owners.

The House Health and Welfare Committee voted 8-7 to move House Bill 783 by Rep. Gary Smith to the floor for more debate. If the bill becomes law, Louisiana would join 16 other states that already have passed a complete indoor smoking ban.

Indian casinos would be the only commercial establishments in the state where indoor smoking would be permitted.

Smith, D-Norco, said the bill is meant to create a "level playing field" between restaurants, where smoking has been banned since 2006, and bars and gambling establishments, where it still is permitted.

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