Exemptions, Size Of Fines Faulted
Jump to full article: The Washington Post, 2009-02-16
Author: Fredrick Kunkle and Tim Craig Washington Post Staff Writers
Intro: When Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and Republican House Speaker William J. Howell announced that they had quietly brokered a compromise that would ban smoking in the state's bars and restaurants, anti-smoking advocates did not rejoice. They read the fine print.
And they didn't like what they found.
They said vague language in the ban allowed restaurants to create separate ventilated rooms for smokers but didn't define the standards for such a room. And they said the fine for ignoring the ban was tiny -- $25 for a violation. . . .
Tobacco industry lobbyists weren't happy, either. Glynn Loope, executive director of Cigar Rights of America, said that when the Internet lighted up with news of the ban, he was so mad he "almost threw the computer across the room."
For years, critics of Kaine and Howell (Stafford) have argued that the two showed a striking lack of interest in brokering legislative deals. Now, they have brought the General Assembly closer to passing a restaurant smoking ban in Virginia, a significant political and cultural shift for a state whose history has been intertwined with tobacco for centuries. The deal they struck is taking heavy fire from advocates on both sides.
As Kaine and Howell have pushed to win final approval of the ban, mistrust has pervaded the state Capitol. . . .
Loope began shopping around ideas of acceptable smoking restrictions, borrowing on legislation enacted in other states. In Oregon, for example, workers in smoky environments can sign waivers indicating they have been warned of the risks but opted to ignore them. In New York, cigar bars thrive, an exception to the city's smoking ban, because patrons go there explicitly to buy and use tobacco products.
Loope said he shared some of his research with Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax). Albo spent November and early December crafting his own version of a bill that attempted to address the concerns of the tobacco industry and the anti-smoking advocates.
"We basically came up with what we thought was a fair compromise," Albo said.
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