Assembly Moves to Lift Smoking Ban

The state Assembly late Wednesday voted narrowly to lift the ban on smoking in bars and card clubs, less than a month after the law went into effect across California.

The measure, sent to the Senate on a 42-24 vote, would repeal the ban against smoking starting next January, and calls for a suspension of two years or until federal authorities set up uniform national standards regulating bar smoking.

The bill would allow smoking in about 35,000 bars, casinos and clubs where it was banned Jan. 1. Taverns on Indian reservations were not affected by the new law.

The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Edward Vincent (D-Inglewood), said the measure would protect jobs and allow people the freedom to smoke and drink without suffering criminal penalties.

But opponents, pointing out that many people support the ban, argue that the health of employees and customers was being disregarded.

Critics also said the bill was drafted in such a way as to allow the suspension to continue for years because federal regulations are still uncertain.

But Vincent said the federal rules probably would be expedited and “once this standard is adopted, clubs would be required to adhere to the standard . . . and people could not smoke.”

The Assembly took similar action at the close of the 1997 legislative year but did so knowing it was little more than a gesture. At that time, word was already out from state Senate Leader Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) that the Senate would block the attempt to allow smoking to continue.

This time, however, the vote came hours after the Senate had adjourned for the day, and it was not known immediately how the attempt to wipe out the ban would be received in the upper house.

Lockyer said last September that he would make sure that the earlier bill would never pass on the Senate floor, commenting that it was a workers rights issue. He referred to complaints from unions that employees of bars were jeopardized by the necessity of breathing secondhand smoke on the job.

Lockyer’s spokesman, Sandy Harrison, said Wednesday night that Lockyer “hasn’t changed his mind” and still would prevent Senate passage of the measure.

However, Harrison said Lockyer will remain the Senate leader for “only a couple of more days” and was unsure whether the new Senate leader would look more favorably upon a lifting of the ban.

That new leader is Sen. John Burton (D-San Francisco) who was unavailable for comment late Wednesday. Burton is a nonsmoker who is believed to acknowledge the potential health risks associated with smoking.

Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), a close friend of Burton, said after Wednesday’s Assembly vote she was certain Burton would kill the bill in the Senate, ending its prospects of becoming law.

Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) said the Vincent bill represented a victory for tobacco interests and bar owners, who said the no-smoking law would cripple their business.

“The tavern owners and bar owners--their entire testimony has nothing to do with the health of their employees, it has nothing to do with the health of their customers,” Kuehl said.

Vincent earlier had attempted to delay the ban, but his bill stalled during last year’s legislative session.