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Washington, D.C., Council Approves Smoking Ban

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 December 2005, 19:35 CST

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON -- Washington, D.C.'s city council on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a smoking ban for bars, restaurants and other work and public places, but Mayor Anthony Williams said he may not sign the measure.

The council voted 12-1 in favor of the legislation, which would declare existing indoor bars, restaurants, brew-pubs and nightclubs in the U.S. capital smoke-free as of January 1, 2007.

New facilities that open between enactment and that date must be immediately smoke-free.

Smoking would still be allowed in outdoor spaces maintained by bars and restaurants, in individual hotel rooms, in retail tobacco stores, in cigar bars that generate at least 10 percent of annual revenue from on-site tobacco sales, and in facilities that research the effects of smoking.

The District of Columbia joins a growing number of U.S. cities and states to ban smoking in public places. Council members said the legislation was modeled after the smoking ban New York City launched in 2003.

"Secondhand smoke kills, it is a proven fact. This country has been moving in the direction of moving secondhand smoke out of the workplace for years," said council member and mayoral candidate Adrian Fenty in support of the bill.

The council defeated proposed amendments to allow bars and restaurants to maintain physically separated smoking sections if they install air purification devices and to exempt taverns that serve no food.

An amendment to exempt hookah bars, where patrons smoke tobacco in Middle Eastern-style water pipes, was deferred for consideration at a later date.

But the measure does allow for the city's mayor to grant an "economic hardship waiver" to those establishments who demonstrate that compliance has caused undue financial hardship. The act, however, does not define what constitutes such hardship.

Williams said on Tuesday he had not yet decided whether to sign the legislation. On Monday, he said he would not support the "100 percent ban" proposed by the council, but given the 12-1 vote he could face an override if he decides to veto it. An override would require a two-thirds vote by the council.

He said the city's bar and restaurant owners would lose business to Virginia, which has no smoking ban, and smaller neighborhood establishments would struggle financially.

"I really fear economic detriment here to our city," Williams said.

Source: REUTERS

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