Smoking is not allowed in government buildings, which protects public employees from harmful secondhand smoke.

In most private businesses, employees are also protected because employers are convinced smoking diminishes employee health, which leads to lost work time and higher medical expenses.

Oddly, while smoking is prohibited in restaurants to protect waitstaff employees, there is no such protection for barkeeps or anyone busing tables in Maine bars or lounges.

Why not?

Is the health of these employees less important than the health of secretaries, clerks or waitresses?

No.

And that’s the point of L.D. 1346, an act that would prohibit smoking in any public place, which is defined as any place “not open to the sky into which the public is invited or allowed.” That’s just about every indoor place in Maine. It excludes private homes, but it includes bars.

The bill was heard before the Health and Human Services Committee last week and is set for a work session today. We urge an ought to pass report.

There is no legitimate argument against passage because there is no legitimate argument for denying bartenders and waitstaff the same protections already afforded other working Mainers.

When Maine banned smoking in restaurants several years ago it was done against the wishes of restaurant owners who believed their businesses would suffer as customers stayed away. That didn’t happen, so similar concerns expressed by lounge and bar owners have little merit.

Expanding the smoking ban is the right thing to do, but that isn’t the only reason it deserves support.

It could be enormously expensive to the public if Maine doesn’t offer equal protections to all workers.

There was an effort early in the legislative session to establish a Sidestream Smoke Compensation Board at the state level to hear claims of people injured by sidestream, or secondhand, smoke. If this board were to determine someone was harmed, which would be quite easy given available science, the board could make a financial award to the injured party – paid from the state’s tobacco settlement funds.

This bill didn’t get past the committee stage, but it – or something very similar – will likely resurface in our litigious society if Maine doesn’t extend workplace protections. If it does, we cannot endlessly tap settlement money to pay our bills.

Much of that settlement money is already targeted for smoking cessation and education programs and services, so if damage claims were paid out there would be less money available for current services, services created because there was a proven need. Taxpayers may be asked to bridge that funding gap.

Smoking, like driving, is not a right in this country and it is our obligation to put limits on privileges that infringe on others’ rights. While it may not be written into the Constitution, we all have a right to breathe clean air at work.


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