Cigar bill to create exemption in Clean Indoor Air Act advances

A bill to create an exemption for cigar rooms from the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act is headed to the House floor — and legislation to strengthen the Act by including e-cigarettes and vape pens in the definition of smoking is headed to the governor’s desk.

Senate Bill 150, sponsored by Sen. Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale, is an attempt to help the hospitality and tourism industry in the state by allowing places where cigar aficionados can legally smoke indoors.

Galt said cigar bars are legal in many states, and a supporter representing the hospitality industry said the lack of an exemption here means Montana is at a competitive disadvantage.

In a statement Friday, Galt said he’s pleased with the progress the bill has made.

“Adults over 21 years of age would have the option to enjoy a cigar in a contained location that meets proper ventilation requirements separate from an established bar or restaurant,” Galt said.

Opponents of the bill argue it undercuts an agreement made decades earlier among legislators, some health advocates and the Montana Tavern Association to put the Clean Indoor Air Act in place in 2005 but allow four years for bars to comply.

The Department of Public Health and Human Services describes it as “one of the most important public health policies in state history.”

Montana Tavern Association spokesperson John Iverson could not be reached for comment Friday.

However, at a hearing in March, Iverson told the House Committee on Business and Labor that his board had a robust debate about the bill and didn’t support it because it undercuts the Clean Indoor Air Act.

“It does that by exposing employees to smoke in their workplace,” Iverson said. “For a long time now, our employees have not been exposed to smoke in their workplace.”

But Iverson said the organization would support the bill if it was amended to prohibit employees from entering the room where patrons are smoking and the room had separate ventilation.

This week, the committee voted on an amendment that changed the venue from “cigar bar” to “cigar room” and said employees can’t enter the room while smoking is taking place unless there’s an emergency.

As currently drafted, the bill would allow smoking of premium cigars in “cigar rooms,” separate enclosed spaces on premises that have a license to serve alcohol.

Patrons wouldn’t be able to smoke anything but premium cigars in those rooms, as the bill is written. So no marijuana or cigarettes.

The bill requires a cigar room to be enclosed and have “a solid door” and a ventilation system that doesn’t send exhausted air to nonsmoking areas.

Thursday, the committee approved the bill on a 12-8 party line vote.

In a phone call Friday, CB Pearson, a public health advocate, said the legislation is worse than originally drafted for the health of workers.

“It is the biggest intrusion into the Clean Indoor Air act and the biggest threat that we have faced over the last 20 years,” Pearson said.

Pearson said one reason he believes the current draft is worse is the original bill required a cigar bar to be a separate, standalone structure, and the amended version allows for a separate room in a building.

But he said rooms leak toxic particulates, such as when someone opens a door.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ position is that even when “all practical means of separation and isolation of smoking areas are employed, adverse health effects from exposure in non-smoking spaces in the same building cannot be eliminated.”

It also means an employee who enters the room after hours to clean is exposed to particulates because they fall on the floor and stick to the walls, Pearson said.

“There is no way to have a facility that can protect workers if they have to go in and clean up or attend to a site,” Pearson said.

Before it was amended, Galt told the House committee he had been running a version of the cigar bar bill since he first started in the legislature in the House.

“We have continued working on it, trying to tweak it where we can,” Galt said.

Friday, Galt said the idea the bill is worse for public health than when it started is incorrect because it bans employees from entering those rooms.

“During the legislative process, the bill was amended to be contained to a single room in which employees aren’t permitted to enter,” Galt said. “While this wasn’t my original language, it is the result of the legislative process, and I am glad to see it one step closer to becoming law.”

The bill will head to the House floor as amended.

Another bill that affects the Clean Indoor Air Act is Senate Bill 390, sponsored by Sen. Willis Curdy, D-Missoula. It regulates vapes and e-cigarettes.

It passed out of the Senate on Tuesday on a bipartisan 34-16 vote after being amended in the House.

Rep. George Nikolakakos, R-Great Falls, carried the bill in the House, and he said he’s generally a fan of vices.

However, he said he believes there’s a social contract that needs to be honored when it comes to freedom and vices, and the deal includes regulation.

He said Montanans support the Clean Indoor Air Act — a poll said as much as 89% — and Montana has the second highest rate in the nation of vape use, and four times the rate of smoking among adolescents.

“E-cigarettes came into the market just after we passed the Clean Indoor Air Act, so honestly, they probably would have been included had this been on the market at the time,” Nikolakakos said.

The Governor’s Office did not respond to a question Friday about whether Gov. Greg Gianforte would sign SB 390, which is headed to his desk, or if he would have any concerns about an exemption to the Clean Indoor Air Act in SB 150.