Bryce Clark, owner of Cempazuchi in Milwaukee, introduces Gov. Jim Doyle at the smoke-free workplaces bill signing held at his restaurant. It was one of three bill signing ceremonies held on March 18th, 2009. Standing behind Doyle is WRA Board Member Steve Schilling. |
This past May, Gov. Jim Doyle signed smoke free workplaces into Wisconsin law. As a result, restaurants and taverns will join factories, offices, retail stores, and all other indoor job sites in Wisconsin as smoke-free workplaces, effective July 2010.
“This will finally create a level playing field in competing for customers and workers,” said WRA Chairwoman Linda Wendt, of Wendt’s on the Lake in Van Dyne. It will allow us to compete fairly on the basis of our food, drinks and quality of service, rather than competing for smoking customers based on which city you operate in.
The statewide workplace smoking ban passed the state Senate with a strong bipartisan vote of 25-8, and the Assembly by a vote of 61-38. Those strong vote totals shocked some observers, but not those who have been involved in the issue for a long time.
“You can’t overlook the benefits of breathing healthy air at work,” said WRA President and CEO Ed Lump. “After the dangers of second-hand smoke were proven, it was only a matter of time before all workers were guaranteed a smoke-free workplace.”
“We can be proud that the restaurant industry was part of the solution, and glad that we were able to shape the bill into something workable for WRA members,” Lump added.
The law will go into effect on July 5, 2010. It will cover all restaurants and taverns. Outdoor smoking areas will be allowed, and also protected from local ordinances that may attempt to ban smoking in outdoor areas in the future (as the City of Verona has already done).
The only notable exemptions are for smoking cigars or pipes (not cigarettes) in existing cigar bars and cigar retail shops, and there are only a handful of those establishments in the state that could qualify. This is not a loophole that restaurants or taverns can use to allow smoking, as it is very tightly drafted.
Remarkably, WRA was able to meet all of its key objectives in the final bill. Those key objectives haven’t changed over the last two years. WRA wanted a clean bill with no exemptions that would affect the hospitality industry. This is what the Board of Directors meant when they called for a level playing field. Other key objectives were to protect outdoor smoking areas, make sure taverns and restaurants went smoke-free on the same date, and provide time for restaurants to make adjustments before the effective date.
Many WRA members were hoping for the smoking ban to take effect sooner, while some supported the delay. That fact is that this deal had to get done in Spring 2009, or action on the bill could have been delayed until the Spring 2010 floor period. If that had happened, the effective date could have been pushed even further into the future.
“We got in there and got what we needed,” said Pete Hanson, Director of Government Relations for WRA. “Thanks to strong support from members, we were able to move the debate in a more positive direction.”
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