Big Isle nixes
bar smoking banThe Hawaii County Council votes 5-4
to exempt bars from anti-smoking bill
HILO >> The Hawaii County Council has retreated from passing a smoking ban that includes bars, which would have made it the toughest anti-smoking law in the state.
Two weeks ago the Council gave preliminary passage to a ban that included bars in a 7-2 vote.
But after testimony yesterday by several bar owners that their businesses would be severely damaged, the Council voted 5-4 to exempt bars.
The vote would have been final, but Council rules required an additional two-week waiting period before a final vote because various amendments made yesterday were considered "substantive."
Earlier in the day, Mayor Harry Kim addressed the Council and expressed reservations about the bill for other reasons, but he noted that he could accept a ban on smoking in bars.
"I detest smoking," Kim told the Council. "I will not oppose any kind of ordinance regarding bars."
Clifford Chang, of the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii, cited Delaware as an example where bar revenues increased after a smoking ban.
But Kona cocktail lounge owner Sam Kekaula said he worries about losing business since up to 90 percent of his customers are smokers.
Councilman Aaron Chung, of Hilo, said he called a bar in New York where a smoking ban recently began, and a bar spokesman told him "it's destroying them."
Chung conducted a four-hour effort with a series of unsuccessful amendments to the no-smoking bill before he finally found wording to exempt bars that gained the five votes needed for approval.
Kim said he would not accept a provision that would ban smoking in private homes used as businesses, such as child day-care or adult health-care businesses.
In response, the Council changed the bill's wording to allow smoking in parts of such private homes, but only in areas not used by clients and when clients are not present.
