Maui may ban smoking in eateries
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
WAILUKU, Maui — With Honolulu's restaurant smoking ban only a couple of weeks old, Maui County appears poised to become the next county in Hawai'i to impose such restrictions.
Declaring the health and welfare of citizens and visitors their primary concern, members of a County Council committee yesterday unanimously approved an ordinance similar to Honolulu's at a hearing that saw little opposition.
Councilman Dain Kane, who proposed the legislation, said he's not aware of any roadblocks as it goes to the full council, and Mayor James "Kimo" Apana has said he will sign the bill.
"The time is right," Kane said.
After rejecting similar proposals in three previous years, the Honolulu City Council finally approved a law in February that went into effect July 1. Honolulu joined 385 other municipalities across the country in restricting smoking in restaurants. Other proposals are being developed by council members on Kaua'i and the Big Island.
Under Maui's proposed law, smoking would be prohibited in restaurants starting Jan. 1 but allowed in stand-alone bars in which food is served "incidentally," meaning that it represents no more than a third of gross sales.
The law is being supported by the state Department of Health and other public health advocates.
Vanessa Speed of the American Heart Association Maui County Division said cigarette smoke contains 4,000 chemicals and carcinogens.
"Knowing this, the question is simple: Why would we force a significant portion of our work force to face workplace exposure to these toxins on a daily basis?" she said.
But Bill Burton, owner of Sir Wilfred's restaurant in Lahaina, said he has been in the restaurant business for 20 years and has never received one complaint.
Tim Ellison, owner of Polli's Mexican restaurant in Makawao, said that while he supports the bill, stand-alone bars should be included in the ban as well.
The bar in Polli's is open to its dining area, which means smoking won't be allowed at his bar under the ordinance. He said bar patrons may choose to go to another drinking hole down the street where they can smoke.
Kane, whose grandmother died of lung cancer, said he has been working on his bill since before Honolulu's legislation was adopted. He said his staff attempted to survey all of the restaurants in the county and found that a smoking ban was supported by nearly 70 percent of them.
"It's steamrolling in," he said of the support. "Over 90 percent of the people who have called my office are in favor."
Kane said that while much of the debate in Honolulu centered on the effect of the ban on Japanese visitors, that's not as big of a concern on Maui because it has a larger percentage of Mainland visitors than O'ahu.
Roz Baker, the county's economic development coordinator, said studies indicate business does not suffer in places where such ordinances have been adopted. In fact, she said, Boulder, Colo., and Corvallis, Wash., report that revenues increased because people felt more comfortable going there.
Council member Jo Anne Johnson wants to make the law even more restrictive by extending the ban to stand-alone bars.
"Does a worker in a bar have less value than a worker in a restaurant?" she said. "For me, it's the workers we have to protect, the ones who don't have a choice."
Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880
