Clubs seek delay on smoking ban
It's a scene that is playing out more and more since last month's smoking ban in Utah fraternal organizations went into effect, veterans told lawmakers on Tuesday.
Eventually, the tavern that's getting the Layton VFW's business will have to go smoke-free, too, but not until January 2009. By then, the veterans said, many of the state's fraternal organizations will be driven out of business.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Clearfield, seeks to amend last year's law to allow smoking in fraternal organizations until January 2009, when private clubs and taverns are legally required to go smoke-free.
"This will allow them to keep their members at their club," Oda said. "Then everyone goes smokeless together, January 2009."
With nearly a dozen veterans watching, the House Business and Labor Committee unanimously passed HB273 Tuesday morning.
"We do not consider this a moral issue, nor do we oppose the smoking ban," said Vernon Wade, state vice commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "All we're asking is to be put on equal classification basis with the other clubs."
Country clubs and fine-dining establishments with private club licenses also went smoke-free last month, but Oda said the overwhelming majority of them already banned smoking.
Since the ban on fraternal organizations took effect on Jan. 7, various VFW posts have noticed losses ranging from $3,700 to $10,000 over the previous January, said Oda, who opposed last year's bill.
"Those pushing the ban always contended there's no economic impact at all," he said. "This shows that it's otherwise."
One of Utah's oldest VFW posts, chartered in the 1930s, closed its doors in late January because of economic impact of the ban, Wade said. His home post, on Highland Drive in Salt Lake, is close to going out of business, as well.
"There is no way we are going to last two years to 2009. Our doors will close," Wade said.
HB273 was opposed Tuesday by the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, all organizations that lobbied hard last year for the smoking ban.
Rep. Kevin Garn, R-Layton, spoke in favor of HB273 Tuesday, supporting the equity argument raised by the bill's supporters.
The law should be applied equally without discrimination, he said. "The law as its currently written does not do that."
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com
You can be the first to comment on this story.