Amendment to smoking ban would be a step back.
Jump to full article: Minneapolis (MN) Star Tribune, 2008-04-13
Intro: The state's ban on smoking in bars and restaurants still has that new-law smell, but already some lawmakers want to water it down. A late-night amendment slipped into a state budget bill would allow smoking shelters to accommodate patrons during the winter.
Now legislators need to reconcile the House version of the bill, which has the shelter exception, with the Senate version, which does not.
Recent efforts by some bar owners to abuse an existing exception in the smoking ban make us wary about the shelter proposal. . . .
With those major caveats, the shelter proposal was worthy of a full hearing at the Legislature. But the potential public-health risks are too significant to allow the amendment to go forward. As written, the proposal is a fundamentally flawed effort to get around the indoor smoking ban. The legislative conference committee should snuff it out.
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