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Smoking Ban Passes Iowa Senate

Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 08:38AM by Registered CommenterNathan Greene in , | CommentsPost a Comment

Yesterday the Iowa Senate passed the statewide smoking ban but included casinos in the ban. The bill now heads back to the house with the changes and it will be interesting to see what happens with the casinos.

Last week House Minority Leader Chris Rants said that he voted against the bill because of the special exemption in the bill for the casinos. No it looks like he is going to have to support the senate version or come up with another reason to vote against it.

I think it’s a little sad when Sen. Bill Dotzler, a Democrat, defends the small business owner better than Rants did when the bill was in the House.

Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo whose mother owns a tavern, argued Iowa bar owners should be able to designate their bars as smoking zones if they keep people under the age of 21 out. "The last time I checked smoking was legal in the United States of America and legal here in Iowa," Dotzler said. "...So ladies and gentlemen if you don't want to discriminate (against) about 18 to 20 percent of the Iowa population and treat 'em like a second class citizen, then at least give 'em a place where they can go socialize."

Dotzler argued Iowa smokers deserved some sort of accommodation, like his suggestion to let bar owners declare their establishments open for smoking. "I believe that this is fundamental to what our countries about," Dotzler said. "And I'm not asking much. I'm just asking that they can have a place to go and people that don't like it don't have to go there."

There are a few Republicans who actually understand the issue.

Senator David Hartsuch, a Republican from Bettendorf, warned the bill would open a Pandora's Box. "If this bill passes, you will see wave upon wave of new litigation going not against tobacco companies but against private owners of property -- apartment owners...bar owners or any other public place," Hartsuch said.

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