Smoking Ban's Fate Hazy in Md.

Statewide Prohibition Opposed by Key Leaders

Despite a wave of success on the local level, the effort to extend a restaurant smoking ban across Maryland faces a tough road as tobacco lobbyists and health groups rev up sophisticated campaigns to influence the measure, lawmakers say.

Both the smoking ban and a proposed increase in the tobacco tax face stiff opposition and will find significant resistance from Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) and Democrats who preside over the Senate and House. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said he had little appetite for a tax increase of any kind and cited his upbringing surrounded by tobacco fields as the reason he won't back a smoking ban.

"I'm going to vote against it," said Miller, who represents parts of Prince George's and Calvert counties. "I don't like smoke, but I respect the right of my constituents to eat where they want and the right of restaurant owners to create the kind of ambiance they'd like for their customers."

House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said he sees no reason to tax smokers again -- the state legislature has raised the cigarette levy twice in the past six years. And he wonders whether it wouldn't be best to let each of the state's jurisdictions decide whether to allow smoking in restaurants -- Montgomery, Talbot and, most recently, Prince George's counties have enacted bans.

"This might be better off handled on the local level," Busch said.

Howard County will consider a smoking ban today, but a majority of County Council members have said they will not support the measure. The county already limits smoking to areas of restaurants and bars that have separate ventilation.

Melvin Thompson, a lobbyist for restaurant and bar owners across the state, said he doesn't believe advocates for a statewide ban have made much progress since last session, despite the local victories.

"We don't think the dynamics have shifted very much at all," Thompson said.

But even in the face of powerful early opposition, neither proposal should be written off, veterans of the tobacco wars in Annapolis said last week.

Lobbyists for health groups, including the nation's leading lung, heart and cancer associations, said they are planning to make the restaurant smoking ban a top legislative priority in the coming session. Health care advocates, meanwhile, are getting behind a proposal to increase the state tax on cigarettes by $1 a pack to pay for an expansion of health care for the poor.

At least seven states -- including California, New York and Delaware -- and 180 localities mandate smoke-free bars and restaurants.

Supporters of the tax increase produced numerous examples of Miller voicing strong public opposition to a higher tobacco tax in the months preceding the passage of a 30-cent increase in 1999, to 66 cents, and again in 2002 -- an election year -- when the tax went up to $1 a pack.