January 22, 2009 04:48 PM UTC

Smokers' Exile To End?

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Rocky Mountain News reports:

Portions of Colorado’s 2 1/2-year-old indoor-smoking ban could be in jeopardy under a bill expected to be introduced soon.

The bipartisan measure would classify bars, restaurants, racetracks and parts of casinos as cigar-tobacco bars if they have a humidor and make 5 percent of annual gross income or $50,000 in annual sales from tobacco products. Patrons would be required to buy the cigarettes or cigars they smoke at these bars.

The Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act, passed in 2006, bans smoking in most indoor locations in the state, and a 2007 law nixed puffing at casinos, which had been exempt from the original legislation…

It first would eliminate a clause stipulating that cigar bars that wish to be exempt from the smoking ban must have been in place since 2005.

At first glance you wouldn’t think this bill has much of a chance, given the broad acceptance today that smoking is a public health hazard. But evidence that the smoking ban has seriously hurt small businesses around the state may cause legislators to reconsider–especially in the current economic climate.

This bill certainly won’t force anyone to allow smoking in their establishment, but it would allow bars who want to accomodate smokers a legal way to do so.