A bill that would have created an "outdoor" exemption for Baltimore County bars and restaurants to the state ban on smoking in public places died in a House committee yesterday, effectively ending an effort that some health advocates feared could unravel statewide support for the newly imposed law.
The bill, sponsored by Del. Joseph J. "Sonny" Minnick, co-owner of a Dundalk bar, failed on an 8-to-10 vote in the House Economic Matters Committee. Four members were absent.
The measure would have allowed smoking on enclosed decks and patios, and in tents or other outdoor structures with removable walls. Minnick, a Baltimore County Democrat, said he introduced the bill at the behest of tavern owners who want to provide shelter from harsh winter weather for their patrons who are going outside to smoke.
Minnick, who is on the economic matters panel, said he and other tavern owners have lost business because smoking patrons have stopped coming in or don't come in as often. He said he had a small awning over one of the entrances to Minnick's Restaurant that he would like to enclose for the benefit of the family business' customers.
"Evidently, it was a leadership call," Minnick said of the committee vote. "People that had committed to me didn't vote with me." He did not identify them.
A Senate version of the bill cleared the Finance Committee this week on a close vote. But Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr., a Dundalk Democrat who sponsored that version, said he expected it to be shelved now that the House panel has acted.
Stone said he did not understand the objections to the bill, which he characterized as a minor adjustment to existing rules forbidding smoking in bars and restaurants, which took effect Feb. 1.
The Clean Indoor Air law now permits smoking outside taverns or eating places, even on decks or in gazebos that are partially enclosed, as long as at least one side remains open to the air.
"It seemed to me if you can enclose three sides in bad weather, why can't you close the fourth?" Stone asked.
Stone and Minnick offered to amend the bill to limit the use of outdoor enclosures to the winter months, and to forbid serving food or drinks in them.
But opponents said they still worried it would weaken the intent of the law, which was to protect employees and patrons from unhealthy secondhand smoke.
The bill drew opposition from Baltimore County's executive and health department. It also worried health advocates, who feared other jurisdictions would seek a similar exemption, opening the door to further weakening of the law.
Minnick said legislators from Baltimore and two Southern Maryland counties had spoken to him about amending his bill to apply to their jurisdictions.
Baltimore has its own smoking ban, adopted in February 2007 after years of debate, which most supporters credit with ending a logjam over the issue in Annapolis.
"I'm so glad we don't have to re-fight this fight," said City Councilman Robert W. Curran, who led the push to enact the city ban. He said the anti-smoking law is not being stringently observed in Baltimore County anyway: he said he saw customers with lighted cigarettes on recent visits to bars in Towson and Dundalk.
"It seems ironic that they're crying foul, and some of these places aren't even adhering to the letter of the law," Curran said.
The law does allow local health commissioners to grant waivers to bars and restaurants if they can demonstrate that their business has dropped since the ban. But they must wait at least until April 1 to apply.
Eric Gally, lobbyist for the American Heart Association and American Cancer Society, suggested that opposition to the smoking ban would decline the longer it remains in effect.
"It now becomes part of the social norm," Curran said. "And once it becomes a social norm, people look back and say, 'What was all the hubbub about?'"
tim.wheeler@baltsun.com