Louisiana bills ignite changes in smoking law

The cigarette is about to stage a comeback in Louisiana if two legislators have their way.

State Reps. Alexander Heaton, D-New Orleans, and Robert Faucheux, D-Gramercy, proposed bills that anti-tobacco forces fear could gut the 2006 Louisiana Smoke-Free Air Act.

Heaton's bill would allow smoking in clearly designated, enclosed areas of restaurants with separate ventilation systems. Faucheux's bill would permit smoking in bars located in member-owned private clubs. The Smoke-Free Air Act bans smoking in all public places except for stand-alone bars and casinos.

Carrie Broussard, policy and advocacy manager for the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco Free Living, said the bills are counterproductive.

"We feel like our legislators should be focused on providing protection to workers rather then re-exposing them to secondhand smoke," Broussard said.

Faucheux said he submitted his bill at the request of a constituent who is a member of the Metairie Country Club.

"The members can't enjoy themselves in their own privately-owned club," Faucheux said. "This is a very limited scenario. There aren't many private member-owned clubs in (the) area. I don't know if it will pass. A constituent asked me to file it for him and I said I'd take a shot."

Heaton did not respond to requests to explain the reasoning behind his bill.

"I don't think the bill Rep. Heaton filed is going to be in real good shape," Faucheux said. "Everyone is coming after that one."

The real question is whether restaurants want smoking to return.

Lionel Scott, general manager of the Acme Oyster House in Metairie, said the only part of his business that has suffered from snubbing smokers has been video poker.

"I haven't seen a big difference other than that," Scott said. "People just go outside to smoke instead of smoking at the bar. A lot of businesses were going in the smoke-free direction anyway."

McKinley Eastman, general manager of Superior Grill on St. Charles Avenue, said his business hasn't suffered either but he has lost some good bar customers.

"I know one guy, a very good customer of mine, and when I leave here and drive by Fat Harry's bar, I can see him sitting in there smoking. He's a good guy but he isn't ready to give up smoking."

Eastman said Superior has a large patio section where customers are allowed to smoke but the confusion over what is and isn't allowed under the new law has many confused.

"A lot of people don't know they can smoke on the patio so they go to the sidewalk," Eastman said. "They've gotten into the habit. And then you have the customers who see people smoking out there and say they're going to call the Secretary of State on me.

"A lot of people are misinformed, so I keep a printed version of the law on hand and when people complain I show it to them. I had a lawyer say she was going to call the attorney general because I allowed people to smoke on the patio, and when I showed her the printout she was completely baffled."

Overall, Eastman said the smoking ban for Superior, though he has heard differently from his employees. A bartender working day shifts at another restaurant/bar on the West Bank lost his job when smokers, who made up much of the lunch business, stopped coming after the law went into effect.

"I have several employees who left their other jobs because the law hurt business," Eastman said.

The Louisiana Restaurant Association's legislative committee will meet May 14 to discuss whether it will support either of the proposed bills. Tom Weatherly, senior vice president of the LRA, said if Faucheux's bill passed allowing smoking in the bars of private clubs, many small restaurants might opt to become private clubs. If Heaton's bill passed, it could level the playing field between food-serving bars, where smoking is permitted, and restaurants, where it is not.

"My concern is that even if this passed, would restaurants want to make the large investment to install ventilation systems only to see the law change back the next year?" Weatherly said.

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