SMOKING BAN MAY BE LIFTED

Assembly votes end the prohibition starting next year.

SACRAMENTO-(AP) Less than a month after smoking was outlawed in thousands
of California bars and casinos, the Assembly late Wednesday approved ending
the ban.

The measure was sent to the Senate on a 42-24 vote. It would repeal the
prohibition against smoking starting next January, and it calls for a
suspension of two years or until federal authorities set up uniform
national standards regulating bar smoking.

The bill would allow smoking in about 35,000 bars, casinos and clubs where
smoking was banned Jan. 1. Taverns on Indian reservations were not affected
by the new law.

"This is an issue of freedom of choice for individuals," said Assemblyman
Scott Baugh, R-Huntington Beach. "If they want to go to a bar and smoke,
they should be able to do it."

Assemblyman Edward Vincent, D-Inglewood, said his bill would protect jobs
and allow people the freedom to smoke and drink without suffering criminal
penalties.

Critics of the bill said the health of employees and customers was being
disregarded.

But smokers and bar owners shouldn't get their hopes up too soon. A similar
bill passed out of the Assembly last year, only to die in the Senate.
Republican lawmakers from Orange County say they have received phone calls
from bar owners who say their business is down 50 percent to 60 percent
since the ban went into effect.

"That means those businesses will no longer exist if this ban continues,"
said Assembly man Curt Pringle, R-Anaheim.

Critics said the bill was crafted in such a way as to allow the suspension
to continue for years, because federal regulations are still uncertain.

Register staff writer Mark Katches contributed to this report.