Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Proposal would allow food service in restaurant bars that allow smoking

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Current law

Business owners can establish segregated bar and restaurant areas with separate entrances and ventilation systems. Smokers can bring food to the bar or have it delivered to the entrance.

Proposed change

The Health Board will consider a change in the food provision to allow restaurant employees to deliver food to patrons in the bar. Diners could still bring their own food.

Although voters delivered a clear message with passage of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act in 2006 that they didn’t want smoking in restaurants, state health officials this morning will consider a regulation that anti-smoking advocates say would violate the law.

The seven-member State Health Board will consider a proposal that would allow a restaurant to create a physically segregated bar with a separate ventilation system where smoking would be allowed and food could be eaten. Bar patrons would either bring their own food or could have food delivered in a container by a restaurant employee.

Such modifications in Clark County would have to be approved by the Southern Nevada Health District.

The Colorado-based anti-smoking advocacy group, Smoke-Free Gaming, is fuming. Chairwoman Stephanie Steinberg said Thursday the regulation would circumvent voters’ demands to prohibit smoking in places that serve food.

“They are attempting to legislate and change the law when they have no authority to do so,” Steinberg said of the board members. “In no other states that have clean indoor air laws are health authorities trying to change the law.

“It’s despicable, actually. They all know the dangers of secondhand smoke, but they’re being influenced by the opposition to the law.”

Other groups fighting the proposal include the American Cancer Society, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and the American Lung Association.

The Health District — based on its interpretation of the law — allows businesses to operate a separate restaurant and bar under one roof provided the two areas have separate entrances and ventilation systems, district spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said. In such cases, the bar is not allowed to serve food. But customers can bring their own food or have it delivered to the bar’s entrance, she said.

Under the proposed regulation, though, a restaurant employee would be allowed to deliver food into the bar.

“We feel that would violate the purpose of the law,” Sizemore said.

The Nevada Tavern Owners Association has opposed aspects of the law. But until the Sun contacted association officials Thursday, they weren’t aware of today’s hearing, they said. One official is Blue Ox Tavern owner Ron Aronsohn, chairman of the association’s political action committee.

“This caught us by surprise, and we’re not prepared to respond,” he said.

But Aronsohn had at least one complaint about the proposal: “What they’re trying to do is to change the law so that it would be up to the businesses to enforce it rather than the Health District.”

The district has won some court battles to enforce the law — notably Irene’s Grill, which agreed to stop serving food in its bar, and Bilbo’s Bar and Grill, which was ordered to remove ashtrays and matches.

But Sizemore said the Health District has not fined people who smoke in prohibited areas despite being authorized to do so. The fine is $100 for each violation.

“Our inspection staff is not trained to go up to individuals and ask for IDs,” she said. “They are trained to inspect facilities that have permits. It’s a whole new ballgame to go up to individuals who smoke and issue citations.”

Even though the ban was upheld last year by the Nevada Supreme Court, Sizemore said the district has chosen to use its clout over businesses it regulates to make sure they are complying with the law.

“Early on, we sent them letters and most of them complied right away,” Sizemore said.

The law also extended the ban to child-care facilities, movie theaters, video arcades, malls, grocery stores, retail outlets, government buildings and other public places.

Although the law was passed by 54 percent of the voters statewide, tavern owners who complained it would jeopardize their business by driving away customers have put up every roadblock they could to stave off enforcement.

They even gained the ear of the state Senate, which voted 14-5 last year to approve a bill that would have allowed bars to serve food to customers as long as minors were not permitted in those establishments. But the bill died in the Assembly.

After the Supreme Court issued its ruling in September to uphold the law, health officials began drafting proposed regulations to help with enforcement.

Other proposals on today’s agenda would require:

• Indoor businesses to establish ways to communicate that smoking is prohibited within the establishment.

• “No Smoking” signs to be posted with contrasting colors.

• Customers to have smoke-free routes to restrooms.

The proposals also would allow the Health District to suspend or revoke the permit of any business that violates the law, and would give an individual the right to appeal.

The hearing also will attempt to clarify various interpretations of the law, Nevada Health and Human Services spokeswoman Martha Framsted said.

“We’ll have more answers after the presentations,” she said.

The 9 a.m. hearing will be videoconferenced to Room 4412 of the Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., and the public can participate.

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