State smoking ban discussed

Indiana is the odd one out among most neighboring states because it doesn’t have a statewide smoking ban. But some legislators are hoping this situation will change by the Super Bowl.

Jon Macy, coordinator for the Monroe Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Coalition, said there is a push in Indianapolis to pass statewide legislation before the heavy influx of out-of-towners arrives.

At 23.1 percent, Indiana has the fifth highest rate of smoking nationally, according to smokefree.gov.

“Basically, they don’t want to be embarrassed when people come to Indianapolis and there’s no ordinance that prohibits smoking in bars,” Macy said. “I think it’s at least 25, maybe getting close to 30, states have comprehensive laws, so Indiana’s kind of
falling behind.”

These new ordinances would make it illegal to smoke in places such as bars and restaurants, along with places where this practice is already banned, such as bus stops and places of employment.

Monroe County has much stricter ordinances than the rest of the state, and the county actually led the Midwest in this initiative, Macy said.

“Bloomington was one of the first cities in the entire Midwest to pass a comprehensive law like this,” Macy said. “Bloomington’s law was in place before Chicago.”

In 2005, nearly all locations in Bloomington went smoke free, including 21-and-over bars and clubs. It’s also illegal to smoke on the IU campus, aside from designated smoking areas, and at bus stops. Smoking is also prohibited in places that serve any kind of food or beverage in Bloomington, which may be why there are no hookah or cigar bars in the city.

“This is just my hunch, that it would be difficult for a hookah bar to survive financially just on the tobacco product,” Macy said.

Pete Giordano, director of Community and Family Resources in Bloomington, said that overall, businesses in the city experienced minimal change in the amount of business they received after the ban. He also cited fear of lost business as one possible cause for the lack of a ban statewide.

“I think there’s a lot of misconceptions on what the impact on businesses would be,” Giordano said. “Most saw no overall impact, or an increase.”

Giordano said Nick’s English Hut saw an increase in business after the ban went into effect in Bloomington.

“I think a lot of people just didn’t want to go into smoky bars,” Giordano said.

Macy said there appears to be much support for a statewide ban, but other issues may prevent it from happening.

“We just kind of have to see how the legislative process plays out,” he said. “The other problem we’re having is the other legislative issues, like the right-to-work deal, are taking all the attention. It’s such a hot topic that even the Democrats have walked out or are boycotting, so if they don’t have a quorum, they can’t even vote.”

To vote on the statewide ban, a majority of representatives currently in office must be present for the vote. Given the other current controversies, the ban might not even go to vote.

Giordano is hopeful that a ban will be passed soon, but he said there may not be enough time between now and the Super Bowl for an effective ban to go into place. He also said he is hopeful Indiana will soon join its neighbors in a ban.

“If they can make it work in New York City,” Giordano said, “we can probably make it work here.”