Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
INDIANAPOLIS – Almost four hours of testimony Wednesday on a comprehensive statewide smoking ban boiled down to whether lawmakers want to protect the health of workers or the jobs and revenue that bars and casinos might lose.
Both sides made convincing arguments, often backed up by stirring personal stories.
Indianapolis businessman Bruce Hetrick held his wife, Pam, in his arms when she died of cancer in 2005. She never smoked a cigarette in her life, but her 25-year career as a journalist often put her near secondhand smoke.
“My goal is simple – save other people from the slow-motion homicide that killed Pam,” he said. “You don’t kill workplaces by making them smoke-free. You kill workers my making them inhale smoke.
“No one should have to choose between their job and their health.”
Most of the opposing testimony came from bars and casinos.
Brad Klopfenstein, executive director of the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association, said there should be places where adults can go to enjoy cigarettes, a legal product.
“We feel that employees have the right to choose a setting that’s right for them,” he said. “We’ve all been dancing around this issue. If tobacco is really that bad, maybe we should be talking about banning tobacco rather than whether businesses can serve their customers.”
House Bill 1213 would prohibit smoking in public places and enclosed areas of employment. There are no exceptions in the comprehensive bill, which will likely receive a vote by the House Public Policy Committee next week.
As of October, 29 states, along with Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, had smoke-free laws in effect that cover either workplaces, restaurants, bars or combinations of some or all of such places, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.
Michael Maurer, the former Indiana secretary of commerce and a central Indiana publisher, said he doesn’t think Indiana should wait any longer before joining the list.
“A first-class state protects its citizens,” he said. “We’ve got to have some guts on this. Why do we have to be last?”
Statistical evidence from doctors on the harmful effects of secondhand smoke was overwhelming at the hearing, including studies that showed up to a 40 percent reduction in heart attacks in communities enacting smoke-free laws.
“The risk to employees is much greater than we knew before,” said Dr. John Crawford, a former Fort Wayne City Council member and author of the city’s strict smoking ban.
He encouraged lawmakers to pass a strict ban without exemptions to start with, noting that Fort Wayne’s original law provided exceptions.
“We had to revisit it, and you will have to fight the war again,” Crawford said. “I have the political scars to prove it.”
He also told the committee that states with long-standing bans have never found adverse effects on sales in bars and restaurants.
“You lose some smokers – we don’t contest that – but you gain some non-smokers, and there are a lot more of them,” Crawford said.
But Fort Wayne businesswoman Deborah Grimes said she saw a 40 percent drop in revenue at her bar, Sports & Spirits, the first six months after the 2007 ban. The bar is just a few miles from New Haven, where people can smoke in taverns.
Similarly, the Casino Association of Indiana expects a 15 percent drop in revenue for state and local government if a statewide smoking ban is passed, equating to $150 million and more than 1,175 jobs. This is based on experiences from Illinois and Delaware, where smoking bans have been implemented.
“At first blush, you think this is a noble cause, but there needs to be a balance,” said Mike Smith, president of the casino group. Mike Kole, a central Indiana resident, echoed Smith’s concerns.
“It sends a signal to business that we like to meddle in how you run your affairs,” he said.
Others noted, though, that businesses already follow numerous government regulations – from sanitation requirements to worker-safety standards.
“No one should be exposed to the hazards of secondhand smoke where they work,” said Michael Kelley, a 57-year-old cancer survivor from Muncie. A non-smoker, Kelley said his cancer was caused by working 20 years in smoke-filled auto plants and union offices.
His cancer spread to his throat and lymph nodes and required 35 radiation treatments and six months on a feeding tube.
“The pain was beyond description,” Kelley said. “I don’t want anyone else to ever have to go through what I had to.”
