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TOPEKA — A new proposal in the Kansas House would allow some bars to permit customers to smoke indoors.

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee on Wednesday held a quickly-scheduled hearing on House Bill 2741, a follow-up bill to one signed into law by Gov. Mark Parkinson last Friday.

The bill, requested by Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, makes several changes to the new state law. Among the changes:

• Bars could permit smoking if they sold Kansas Lottery tickets and Keno games and if less than 30 percent of the operation's gross receipts were from food sales.

• Shrink from 10 feet to three feet the distance a smoker could stand from a doorway, window or air intake vent for bars and class A and B clubs.

• Any private club registered as class A or B could allow smoking after sending written notice to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The new law would only allow smoking in class A and B private clubs licensed before Jan. 1, 2009 that sent notice within 90 days of July 1.

• An exemption would be allowed for nonprofit organizations that hold any "benefit cigar dinner or other smoking event conducted specifically and exclusively for charitable purposes".

Much of the committee's discussion centered around the change for bars.

"Now we're setting up a two-tiered bar system?" said Rep. Judith Loganbill, D-Wichita.

But Landwehr said the change to allow smoking in bars that sell lottery tickets would allow them to compete on a more level playing field with state-owned casinos. The new smoking ban law includes an exemption for the gaming floors of state-owned casinos.

"I think places that sell the other gambling devices Kansas has should have the same option," she said.

Ron Hein, speaking for the Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association, said the group was neutral on the matter. But he said changing the allowable smoking distance from doors to three feet would help several association members with outdoor patio seating who otherwise have to reconfigure those areas.

Hein also asked the committee for a transition period for bars in Wichita and other cities with ordinances that allowed businesses to construct separately ventilated smoking areas. A period of 18 months, he said, would help those businesses recoup the investments they made - in some cases as much as $40,000 to $50,000.

Father H Setter, a Wichita priest who hosts an annual cigar tasting dinner and donates the proceeds to charity, submitted written testimony in favor of the bill.

"If exemptions can be included for private clubs, casinos and nursing homes year round, then why can't I have an exemption that's once a year for about five hours total?" he wrote.

Landwehr likened the cigar tasting dinner to a wine tasting, noting that some legislators have hosted their own wine tastings as campaign fundraising events.

Advocates from the American Cancer Society and the Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition testified against the bill, calling it a "step backwards."

Also, they said, the changes would be too confusing for business owners, patrons and local authorities to understand.

Media attention surrounding the governor's bill signing has described one set of rules, said Mary Jayne Hellebust, executive director of the Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition. But the new bill, she said, has a different set of rules.

"This would add to the confusion and complicate implementation" of the new law, she said.

Rep. Melvin Neufeld, an Ingalls Republican who chairs the committee, said Thursday would be the last day for his committee to work bills in advance of upcoming Legislative deadlines.

"There's no decision at this point" to work the new smoking ban bill, he said Wednesday afternoon.