That’s the bad news coming out of Detroit Lansing. The legislature has been wanting to ban smoking for years, the roadblock being debate about which lucky few should be fortunate enough to remain free to set their own smoking policies:
Michigan has moved one step closer to having a statewide, workplace smoking ban with the news that a leading Republican lawmaker has the votes to approve such a bill, the Detroit News reports. The bill would exempt Detroit casinos, cigar bars and tobacco stores from the smoking ban.
I argued against the ban in the Detroit Free-Press last year:
The fight that ensued over this issue in Washington is a telling example. Before our ban was passed, City Councilwoman Carol Schwartz introduced a compromise that would have provided tax breaks to smoke-free businesses, increased fees for those that allow smoking and required smoke-friendly establishments to install expensive ventilation systems.
If the council’s goal had truly been to provide workers with more options, the Schwartz proposal would have done that. But predictably, her sensible compromise was roundly ignored in favor of a citywide ban. The lawmakers in Lansing are taking a similarly excessive approach.
The good news for nonsmoking Michiganders is that business owners are already curtailing smoking in response to consumer preferences, just as they were in Washington before our ban took effect. A glance at the Web site of Michigan Citizens for Smokefree Air reveals 3,500 restaurants in Michigan are smoke-free. As tolerance for tobacco smoke continues to wane, more and more managers will see the benefits of joining them.
Previously:
A market test of smoking bans
Exemptions and employment revisited
Do smoking bans affect business?
Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, barista, mixologist, and magician in Portland, OR. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Reason Online, The Oregonian, and other publications.
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Technically, isn’t the bad news coming out of Lansing?
/pedant
They should let the business decide if they want a smoke free business. I am sure there will be plenty of restuarants that will decide to go smoke free. Bars too. All of a sudden second hand smoke is more dangerous than smoking.
I don’t believe in telling someone that they can’t do something they like to do.
@Jeff: Well, technically the news was reported by a Detroit newspaper… buy yeah, you caught me.
Isn’t this kind of moot, since there are only like 17 people still working in Michigan anyway?