Legislature: Tavern smoking bill clears legislature

(AP) - Nevadans may be able to grab a burger along with a smoke after lawmakers voted 13-8 Monday to change the rules about the types of food age-restricted stand-alone bars, taverns and saloons can sell.

"It's about allowing tavern owners to decide whether they want to allow their patrons who can currently smoke to serve food," lobbyist Sean Higgins told the Senate Finance Committee on Monday before it voted to send the bill to the Senate floor.

Higgins told lawmakers AB571 would not make a dent in the goal of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, which prevented stand-along establishments from serving prepared food, a limitation Higgins said has severely hurt tavern owners by forcing customers to go elsewhere.

"Children will not be exposed to second-hand smoke. Children will not be allowed," he said.

In addition to allowing food service beyond chips and pretzels, AB571 would let food and smoking mix in age-restricted bars, taverns and saloons that are inside a larger establishment as long as those locations are completely sealed off.

Higgins and Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, tangled during the committee hearing, with Higgins saying change was needed because voters did not understand the act's impact when they voted for it. He then said change was needed to shore up businesses that were hurt by the law.

"My constituents overwhelmingly know what they voted for. I'm still not hearing a great reason why we should change this. Do you have a fourth argument?" Leslie asked.

Anti-smoking advocates told committee members that AB571 puts employees in a bind.

"Employees who thought they signed up for a nonsmoking job are suddenly working in a smoking location," said Amber Joiner of the Nevada Medical Association. Joiner said it could be argued that employees could switch jobs, but she said "that is not a free choice in this economy."

The Indoor Clear Air Act took heat on the Assembly side as well.

"People are still smoking. You did not change the actual act of smoking, and the goal in all the groups that you represent is to get people to quit smoking or to be healthier and not be exposed to second-hand smoke," Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, said at a the bill's May 23 hearing before the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

Leslie told her fellow senators that voting for AB571 would move the state backward.

Higgins said selling the law to legislators was difficult at first, but resistance didn't last.

"Everyone I explained it to said, 'That makes sense,"' he said.

The bill now goes to Gov. Brian Sandoval.