Legislators hope small businesses survive new smoking regulations

WILLMAR -- In some rural Minnesota communities, the only business in town may be a bar that also sells milk, bread and peanut butter so that residents don't have to drive 20 miles to buy a few groceries.

It's businesses and communities like those that Rep. Bud Heidgerken, R-Freeport, is afraid may lose out Oct. 1 when the state's new smoking regulation kicks in.

"It's going to affect those little rural ma and pa operations quite a bit, and some of them are barely hanging on as it is," said Heidgerken, who did not vote for the legislation.

Heidgerken said he agrees smoking should be prohibited in restaurants, but not bars.

"I know there's going to be some guys going out of business in a period of time," he said.

Rep. Lyle Koenen, DFL-Clara City, shares the same concern. He said the Legislature "went a step too far" by including bars in the prohibition. A non-smoker, Koenen also did not vote for the bill.

"Some of the bars could have a hard time making ends meet," Koenen said. He suspects that those same business owners will be seeking some kind of legislative assistance in the future to stay in business.

"It'll take some time to adjust, certainly, but I think everything will return to normal," said Sen. Joe Gimse, R-Willmar. "People make adjustments."

Implementing a ban on smoking in all indoor workplaces all across the state will mean all businesses will be "on an even keel" with their competition, said Rep. Al Juhnke, DFL-Willmar. Unfortunately, he said, the border towns will have to compete against businesses in states that do allow smoking in bars in restaurants.

Minnesota is the 20th state to implement workplace smoking regulations. "Minnesota isn't an island," said Juhnke. "There's strong, strong, strong support in our area for a smoking ban."

The new law will have positive health benefits, Juhnke said. "It'll probably save us health care costs in the state and save us lives in the long run."

Gimse said it's important to protect the health of employees, including wait staff in bars and restaurants.

"I'm waiting, like most people, to see how things work out and I think it'll be positive in the long run," said Gimse. Change is tough, he said, but once people see the benefits of smoke-free workplaces, "they'll come to appreciate it and accept it."

Juhnke said service clubs, like American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts, may be concerned about a drop-off in business, and therefore communities could experience a decrease in charitable gambling revenues. He said he'd like to see the state consider replacing paper pull-tabs with electronic pull-tabs, similar to slot machines, with a limited number placed in those clubs. He said that attraction could help offset any potential decrease in businesses from the smoking regulations.

The legislators said local governments can enforce even stricter laws, but said they hope cities and counties give the state law a chance to work before doing things like restricting smoking in outdoor areas.

The city of Spicer has already done that. The council voted in July to prohibit smoking in all city parks.