State Rep. Brandon Vick, R-Felida, believes allowing cigar lounges to open up in the state could create jobs.
But only smokers need apply.
The latest version of his measure to bring cigar lounges to the state has a unique job requirement: You must already regularly inhale tobacco.
Vick has introduced a similar proposal in previous legislative sessions, without success.
“The concerns from years past was we don’t want a nonsmoking server or bartender to be subjected to cigar smoke if they aren’t a smoker,” Vick said.
So, House Bill 1919 would require servers to sign an affidavit that they already smoke and understand the health effects of doing so.
“It’s obviously a little unique and the point in doing that is not that I want to encourage people to smoke tobacco … but it takes care of concerns of nonsmokers (being subjected to the smoke),” he said.
The bill would allow businesses to apply for an endorsement to allow guests to smoke tobacco. It would require specific ventilation and spells out technical standards that must be met on heating, ventilation and exhaust systems.
“It’s a prescriptive bill to keep the intent of the indoor smoking ban intact,” Vick said. “You’re not going to be in a restaurant, lounge or bar and be associated with smoking if you don’t want.”
The bill is about consenting adults wanting to use a legal product, Vick said.
But Michael Shaw, a lobbyist with the American Heart Association, doesn’t see it that way.
“This is a rollback of the Smoking in Public Places Act, which passed overwhelmingly in all 39 counties, and this basically rolls that back,” Shaw said.
Voters approved the initiative in 2005.
“And our second concern is, it has provisions (that) we’re only going to allow smokers to work there,” Shaw said. “You’re asking someone to sacrifice their health to keep their job, and that’s a line we won’t cross.”
Vick said the bill would prohibit employers from firing a person who decides to quit smoking.
