Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — Legislators for and against a statewide public smoking ban say this is the year one is most likely to be passed.

But for that to happen, according to one of the biggest opponents, lawmakers must work through differences about what exemptions to allow.

“I am operating on the assumption that people on both sides of the issue will give us the opportunity to pass a compromise bill,” said Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services Committee.

The Senate has twice passed a statewide smoking ban but the legislation never got out of Landwehr’s committee. She has said she is philosophically opposed to a state-imposed smoking ban because it wouldn’t allow for community differences. She also has said she doesn’t like a provision in the Senate-approved bill that would exempt casinos, which ostensibly are state operated. She said it is hypocritical for the state to exempt its enterprises without allowing private businesses a similar option.

Landwehr said she is working on a compromise bill that could look something like Wichita’s clean-indoor-air ordinance, which allows businesses to exempt themselves by paying a $250 fee. Business owners who buy a permit can allow smoking on their entire premises or restrict it to a separate “smoking room” provided they post signs alerting people to their policy and prohibit people under 18 from entering smoking areas.

Meanwhile, advocates of a statewide smoking ban have been buoyed by Gov. Mark Parkinson’s call in his State of the State message for a “real public smoking ban” and research indicating that smoke-free laws reduce the incidence of heart attacks.

They said a compromise of the sort sought by Landwehr would be a capitulation.

“That bill would not be acceptable to us,” said Anne Spiess, a Kansas lobbyist for the American Cancer Society.

After spending the summer and fall lobbying legislators, advocates said they have strengthened their hand enough to remove exemptions they once considered necessary bargaining chips.

The exemption for gaming floors of the state-sanctioned casinos is among those being targeted.

“I am sure that the casino exemption will be revisited,” Spiess said.

When the Senate rewrote HB 2221 it also exempted retail tobacco shops, private clubs, some areas of adult care homes and 20 percent of the hotel rooms in the state.

Compromise or confrontation

Landwehr said her compromise proposal will be ready soon, perhaps this week. But rumors that smoking ban supporters are preparing to force a floor vote on the holdover bill that ended up in a House-Senate conference committee has made her and GOP leaders anxious.

“There is a threat that’s hanging out there about a motion to concur,” Landwehr said.

Smoking-ban supporters are guarded about their plans.

Rep. Jill Quigley, R-Lenexa, would say only, “I think that is being considered as a possibility.”

A House vote to approve the Senate-passed bill would send it to Parkinson, who made it clear in his State of the State address that he wanted a bill with as few exemptions as possible.

“I do not want legislation that the tobacco industry writes, full of loopholes and not a real ban,” Parkinson said.

Landwehr is working to head off a procedural showdown by arguing that the Senate bill is “fatally flawed” because of the casino exemption. Protecting casinos and the revenues they are expected to generate for the state while forcing other businesses to comply with the law is “arrogant and wrong,” she said.

“If it’s bad for casinos, it’s probably bad for bars and pool halls,” Landwehr said.

A study published last year by the Kansas Health Institute found that while a public smoking ban in Lawrence may have temporarily reduced liquor sales at some businesses when it took effect in 2004, the ordinance had no long term impact on overall sales in the restaurant and bar industry.

Trust factor

Landwehr said despite her personal opposition to a smoking ban she is now willing to help craft a compromise.

“I can’t guarantee that anything I put out will pass,” she said. “All I can guarantee is that I will hold a fair hearing (in the health committee) and then decide whether to work the bill there or in conference committee.”

But because of her past opposition, many ban supporters doubt any bill that leaves Landwehr’s committee would meet their objectives.

Rep. Mike Slattery, D-Mission, who counts passage of a statewide smoking ban among his top priorities, said he believes that Landwehr will “crack the whip in committee” to prevent a stronger bill from emerging.

Regardless, both proponents and opponents said they believe a bill will be passed this year, though it may be among the last thing legislators do before heading home.

“I think it will happen this session,” Spiess said. “But if I had to guess, I think it may take all session.”