Many Bars Fail to Keep Patrons From Lighting Up, Survey Finds

Two years after a state measure banned smoking in bars, a substantial number of tavern owners and patrons are still ignoring the law.

Amid spotty enforcement and fears of declining sales, a good 40% of the state’s free-standing bars, or those not attached to restaurants, are failing to comply with California’s indoor smoking ban, according to a recent statewide survey by the California Smoke-free Bar Program, an offshoot of the American Lung Assn.

Compliance is particularly poor in Los Angeles County; the survey shows one out of two bars in the county is flouting the law, an apparent reflection of Los Angeles’ belated enforcement efforts.

“It’s something that is just going to take time, much like the seat belt law did,” said Dian Kiser, director of the program, which released its survey results after more than 10,000 bars statewide were inspected by various city and county officials.

Many of the bars inspected were in restaurants. In those drinking establishments, the survey found more than 90% were in observance of the law.

But the stand-alone bars have been more far resistant to the law, and some say that’s because they are hurting more from the ban. While some restaurants have converted bars into dining areas, free-standing taverns can’t rely on bigger food sales to shore up lost liquor business.

Tom Humber, president of the National Smoker’s Alliance, a group founded in 1994, says at least two dozen bars in the state have closed because of the smoking ban. But Kiser disputed that statement, saying she was unaware of a single such closing related to California’s Smoke-free Workplace Act of 1994.

The act, still the only statewide indoor smoking ban in the nation, was enacted against a backdrop of increasing hostility toward smokers and concerns about the effects of secondhand smoke. The law requires bar owners to post no-smoking signs, remove all ashtrays and tell smoking patrons to put out their cigarettes or cigars. For restaurants and most all other workplaces, the ban took effect in January 1995, but bars were given an extension until January 1998.

Smokers defying the law can be fined up to $500, depending on the number of violations and other factors. For businesses violating the law, fines range from $100 to $7,000. Thus far, no one has been hit with the maximum fine, say those who monitor the law.

The latest state data suggest that the smoking law may have slightly reduced the number of bars inside restaurants. In July 1999, there were 19,285 bars in restaurants--100 fewer than a year earlier, even though the overall number of restaurants went up by about 1,500 in that period, according to the state Board of Equalization.

The state does not track the number of stand-alone bars annually, although the lung association estimates there are 4,200 of these taverns in California.

The relatively low compliance rate in Los Angeles County may be a reflection of the delayed enforcement in the city of Los Angeles. The city turned the inspections over to fire officials, who only last year began checking bars for smokers. The city also initially favored a softer, educational approach rather than issuing fines.

In contrast, San Diego has been one of the most aggressive in enforcing the ban, at times sending undercover police officers to make sweeps of bars. In Orange County, officials have been sending letters to bars suspected of condoning smoking, and a number of cities have actively followed up when people have complained about smoke in bars. The lung association survey indicates an 80% compliance rate in Orange County.

Rick Anderson, owner of Rick’s Tropicana Bar and Grill in San Clemente, said he complied with the law immediately, only to see his business quickly plummet by almost 40% as customers switched to nearby bars that were ignoring the ban.

Anderson’s fortunes improved five months into the ban when San Clemente formed a special enforcement unit that, within weeks, wrote more than 50 citations to patrons found smoking. Since then, the city has been issuing one or two tickets a month, and compliance has increased to nearly 100%, said Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Fred Lisanti, who oversees the inspections.

But even in Los Angeles, there are signs that compliance will increase, as inspectors are beginning to crack down. Los Angeles Fire Capt. Mark Gozawa said this week that so far, five bar owners have been ordered to appear before the city attorney after ignoring the law and receiving substantial fines.