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Indianapolis Work Place Ban on Hold
Stricter workplace smoking ban in doubt
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Council divided on chances of reviving tabled ordinance
By Francesca Jarosz
francesca.jarosz@indystar.com
A proposal to ban smoking in nearly all Indianapolis workplaces faces an uncertain future after a narrowly divided City-County Council tabled it Monday night. The 14-13 vote means the ordinance can return to the council agenda with majority support, but some on the council said achieving that could be difficult. The vote is the latest in a series of close decisions by the 29-member body in recent months.
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"I don't think this council is going to bring it back," said Brad Klopfenstein, former executive director of the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association who is leading an opposition group called Save Indianapolis Bars. "I'm glad to see they're representing the rights of adults to make adult decisions."
Others interpreted the vote differently. Bruce Hetrick is a volunteer for Smoke Free Indy whose wife died of cancer after years of working in a smoke-filled environment. "We have tonight stared in the face of overwhelming health and economic evidence and just scoffed at it," Hetrick said. "This delay tonight is another death sentence. It's deeply disappointing."
Some supporters, however, say the battle is far from over. Councilman Ben Hunter, a Republican and one of the sponsors, said he expects it will be back before the council in the next two to three months with enough votes to pass. "It's inevitable that it's going to pass," Hunter said. "Indianapolis will move forward on the issue."
Councilwomen Doris Minton-McNeill and Marilyn Pfisterer were absent from Monday's meeting.
The ordinance, sponsored by Democrats Angela Mansfield and Jose Evans and Republicans Barbara Malone and Hunter, would add about 400 venues, including bars, bowling alleys and private clubs, to the list of places where smoking is prohibited. It would exempt hookah and cigar bars.
The move to table the ordinance came after the council voted 13-12 against the measure, leaving it shy of the 15 votes needed to pass or fail.
Monday's vote follows a series of other narrow margins, including a 15-14 vote in favor of a hotel tax increase to help the struggling Capital Improvement Board and a 15-13 vote in favor of an ordinance making it tougher to panhandle.
To bring the measure back, a council member would have to make a motion to pull it off the table, and a majority of members present at the meeting would have to support the motion.
During Monday's meeting, council members continued a public debate that began when the proposal was introduced earlier this month.
Libertarian Ed Coleman said the issue is a matter of personal choice.
"People (going to bars) are adults (who) can make adult decisions," Coleman said. "It's not the government's place to tell them how to live healthy lives."
Malone disagreed. For her, the issue is personal: Her close friend's mother, a nonsmoker who worked an office job and was surrounded by secondhand smoke, died of lung cancer.
"(Smokers) are not a protected class," Malone said. "It's not your right to smoke, particularly if it infringes upon your neighbors' rights."
No public comment was allowed Monday, but nearly all the seats in the Public Assembly Room of the City-County Building were filled.
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Additional Facts
Gray and Mahern did vote on whether to table the ordinance because, they said, that's a procedural decision.
Here's how the 14-13 vote on whether to table it shook out:
In favor of tabling: Democrats Vernon Brown, Dane Mahern and William Oliver; Republicans Virginia Cain, Jeff Cardwell, Bob Cockrum, Susie Day, Bob Lutz, Janice McHenry, Mike McQuillen, Lincoln Plowman, Christine Scales and Mike Speedy; Libertarian Ed Coleman.
Against tabling: Democrats Paul Bateman, Jose Evans, Monroe Gray, Maggie Lewis, Brian Mahern, Angela Mansfield, Mary Moriarty Adams, Jackie Nytes and Joanne Sanders; Republicans Ben Hunter, Barbara Malone, Kent Smith and Ryan Vaughn.
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