Restaurant Related News

Connecticut Becomes Fourth State to Go Smokefree

Smokers still welcome; only the smoke is not

By Joe Cherner
Parts excerpted from Republican-American
Prublished: May 24, 2003

HARTFORD, Connecticut -- On Friday, Connecticut joined a select fraternity of states to outlaw smoking in most public places, including restaurants and bars.

Although he said he is uneasy about governmental intervention in the marketplace, Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland nonetheless signed a bill that will eliminate smoking in all restaurants as of October 1. Bars will have until April 1 to go smokefree.

Rowland's signature puts Connecticut in a category with three other states - California, Delaware and New York - that have enacted smokefree workplace legislation. Other states, such as Maine, Vermont, Utah and Florida require restaurants to be smokefree, but have not yet expanded the prohibition to bars.

"It's a national phenomenon," Rowland said, adding the new law clearly articulates the need to protect workers from second-hand smoke. One recent survey found 64 percent of Connecticut residents favoring an all-out smoking ban.

The proposal passed the Connecticut House of Representatives 103-43 and the Connecticut Senate 26-7.

While many celebrated the news of Rowland's signature, not everyone was smiling. John Singleton, spokesman for tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds, predicted a negative impact on restaurant and bar business once Connecticut's bans take effect.

But studies have shown just the opposite. In California, which outlawed smoking in restaurants in 1995 and bars in 1998, those industries have continued to grow despite the bans, according to state statistics.

By the end of 2001, revenues from restaurants and bars in California had jumped to $36.8 billion, up from $25.5 billion in 1995, according to the California Board of Equalization, which tracks taxable transactions.

Also at the end of that five-year period, more restaurants and bars were operating in California than before the bans - 140 more bars existed in 2001 than in 1997, right before the smoking ban took effect for bars and taverns.

"We are pleased by Connecticut's action," says Joe Cherner, President of SmokeFree Educational Services, Inc. "All workers (including office restaurant, bar, bingo, bowling, casino, tavern, pub and nightclub workers) deserve a safe, healthy, smokefree work environment. No worker should have to breathe tobacco smoke pollution to hold a job, because it causes cancer, heart disease and respiratory disease."