Long-Sought Ban On Smoking Passes Easily in the House

The House of Delegates voted yesterday to make bars and restaurants across Maryland smoke-free by next year, a victory for health advocates who have fought for four years to protect workers and patrons from the dangers of secondhand smoke.

The Senate is expected to give final passage to a statewide ban tomorrow, following the 98 to 40 vote in the Democrat-dominated House. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has pledged to sign it. In recent years, Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Charles and Talbot counties -- and last month the city of Baltimore -- have enacted various restrictions on lighting up.

But most of those laws do not allow hardship waivers for business owners who can prove that their bottom line will suffer without smoking, a provision of the state bill that local governments would have to vote to override with new ordinances.

Local governments that have enacted bans will have to decide whether to allow restaurants and bars to seek waivers. "It would boil down to who is going to control what is a hardship?" said Lynn Martins, owner of Seibel's Restaurant in Burtonsville and a past president of the Montgomery County Restaurant Association. "We've rolled with the ban. We survived. The people who have gone out of business are gone."

Action on the smoking ban came as the House gave preliminary or final approval to hundreds of bills before tomorrow's deadline to send legislation to the Senate. In a rare Saturday session before the General Assembly's two-week sprint toward adjournment April 9, lawmakers also agreed to levy a surcharge on new development that includes such impervious surfaces as sidewalks and parking lots, which can increase storm-water runoff. Proceeds from the Green Fund would go toward cleaning up pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.

An $817 million capital budget, which includes a record $400 million for public school construction, also cleared the House. And a bill to move up Maryland's presidential primaries next year to Feb. 12 from March 4, a priority among Democratic leaders, passed unanimously.

Restaurants and bars were the only public places exempted from a workplace smoking ban the General Assembly approved more than a decade ago. Few restaurants in Maryland still allow smoking in eating areas. But now it would also be forbidden in restaurant bars and stand-alone taverns.

The smoking ban stalled in the legislature during four previous years, opposed by lawmakers from districts heavy with bars and tobacco growers. But momentum picked up this year after Baltimore approved a local restriction. About half the state's residents live in jurisdictions with no-smoking laws.

The Senate version of the bill includes an exemption for private, nonprofit clubs and such fraternal groups as the American Legion. House lawmakers did not exempt clubs, arguing that they would have an unfair advantage over restaurants. If the Senate version is passed as is, the difference would have to be worked out by a conference committee.

"Obviously, we remain opposed to the bill," said Melvin Thompson, spokesman for the Restaurant Association of Maryland. "There are still many unknowns."

On the House floor, some opponents said the viability of the restaurant industry was at stake, and others said it was unfair to deprive veterans of the right to a time-honored pastime in VFW halls. But supporters, acknowledging the economic hardship the ban could create, said health issues trump concerns for business.

"This bill is saving lives -- plain and simple," said Del. Dereck E. Davis (D-Prince George's), chairman of the Economic Matters Committee. "Ventilation can remove the odor of smoke, but it cannot make it safe."

The Green Fund would charge home builders 50 cents per square foot of new paved surface. Developers could get a reduction by making such environment-friendly efforts as paving with materials that allow rainwater to pass through.

Revenue generated by the fee would go in part to farmers and local governments' conservation efforts to reduce storm-water runoff that pollutes the bay. Environmental advocates, including House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel), have hailed the fund, approved 94 to 41, as a critical part of the cleanup of the Chesapeake.

But opponents said the fee will make housing more expensive and hurt growth. The bill's prospects in the Senate are dim. President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) has said he is wary of measures that would raise revenue for programs that won't help close a looming budget deficit.

In other action, the House approved legislation authorizing the legislature's auditor to study expenses charged to county-issued credit cards by the Prince George's executive and council members. The bill was introduced after The Washington Post reported that several council members and County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) charged thousands of dollars in personal expenses to their county Visa cards.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.