Senate stubs out proposal to ban smoking in bars, eateries

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 | 9:39 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- A proposal to ban smoking in bars, restaurants and casinos in Louisiana was snuffed out by the state Senate on Monday.

Sen. Rob Marionneaux said his bill would allow bar and restaurant employees to work without having to breathe second-hand smoke and allow families to eat out without sitting next to smokers. He said Louisiana should join the other seven states that have statewide bans in bars and restaurants.

"For once, the state of Louisiana can be at the forefront of something good," said Marionneaux, D-Livonia.

But the bill faced heavy opposition from the alcohol, gambling and restaurant industries, plus the Legislature's history of rejecting smoking bans. In 2003, lawmakers gave local governments the power to restrict smoking, but the bill prohibited any local government from banning smoking in bars, gambling operations, tobacco vendors, hotel rooms and restaurants that serve liquor.

Marionneaux, a cigar smoker, tried to spark his colleagues' interest in the bill by lighting a stogie on the Senate floor before asking them to pass the measure. He stubbed it out quickly, after Senate President Don Hines asked a sergeant-at-arms to enforce the ban on smoking inside the Capitol.

The bill was rejected in a 14-19 vote. Marionneaux can bring it up for another vote.