The Quad-City Times - News, Sports and more from the Quad Cities region or Iowa and Illinois

You are not logged in.
Login

Log in to qctimes.com
Email:
Password:
Remember my information.
Register
Quadsville
Site Help

Ready or not, Iowa goes smoke free ... sort of ... (but not really)

Font Size:

By Times staff | Thursday, July 03, 2008 |

Related Media

Twenty-four pages of laws and rules explain Iowa’s new public smoking ban, effective today. But before linking to those rules, the Iowa Department of Public Health Web site advises:

“The information provided is not intended to be legal advice. Please consult an attorney if further guidance is required.”

It should be a good year to be in the law business. Already the operators of bars, restaurants and other businesses are consulting attorneys to interpret a law with loopholes so big you could drive a bus full of casino lobbyists through it.

Or a cart full of golfers.

Or the entire Iowa State Fairgrounds.

Iowa became the 38th state with a full or partial smoking ban. But you’d think it was the first.

The law and rules effective today remain unclear to many Iowa business owners whose livelihood now depends on them. Joe Sturgis knows he can warn customers to stop smoking at his Rusty Nail tavern at 2606 W. Locust St., in Davenport. He knows that he can call police if necessary to enforce the new law. But neither he nor Davenport police are quite sure if or how officers will be able to respond.

Sturgis also isn’t sure what happens if he doesn’t report it. Can someone report him to the public health department for lax enforcement? Could that jeopardize Sturgis’ business licenses?

Neither Sturgis, the police nor health department knows.

Golf courses are exempt from the law, and Sturgis hopes he can allow smoking on the adjoining miniature golf course he operates outside the Rusty Nail. But are miniature golf courses exempt? He’ll have to hire a lawyer. Neither he, the health department nor police know.

The confusion is galling enough for Sturgis and thousands of other Iowa business owners. But here is what galls the most: While they are affixing the legally required 24-square-inch sign proclaiming “no smoking,” in “legible font type” at every entrance, another type of business will be emphasizing a new message today: “Smokers welcome,” is the message every casino can begin publicizing today.

And they’re not alone.

Bars with patios can extend a welcome to smokers. Bars with kitchens may not.

Fans who plan to enjoy Charlie Daniels on Aug. 12 at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines may smoke at the fairgrounds. Fans who enjoy Alan Jackson on July 31 at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport may not.

We’ve long supported local control of smoking so that these conflicts can be worked out face-to-face among those most affected. Instead, Iowa business owners shoulder the burden of understanding a law that neither lawmakers, the health nor police departments fully understand.

Today, Iowa becomes the 38th smoking-regulated state with a smoking ban written as if it was the first. Iowa’s sort-of smoking ban isn’t well-thought-out public health policy. It is a cobbled together, loophole-filled compromise that has mostly been dumped on the backs of small business owners who lacked the clout to win their own exemptions.

“Please consult an attorney,” is a miserable replacement for credible policy making.