Panel nixes bill to exempt taverns from smoking ban

Publication Date: 2007-02-13

• Author:April M. Washington and Alan Gathright
• Publication:Rocky Mountain News

Smoking would be allowed in nursing homes but not in mom- and-pop bars, under two bills that met opposite fates Monday.

A measure permitting designated smoking areas in nursing homes was passed unanimously by the House Health and Human Services Committee.

But in the Senate, a bid to lift the state smoking ban in taverns was killed, despite three hours of emotional testimony from more than 30 bar owners, many of whom cried foul over the vote to exempt nursing homes.