A move to ban smoking on Waikiki Beach advanced yesterday in the state Legislature with supporters saying it will help tourism and detractors saying it will hurt an already ailing industry.

The bill, introduced by state Rep. Tom Brower, D-23rd (Waikiki, Ala Moana, Kaka'ako), would force smokers to walk off the sand to the nearest public sidewalk, street or private property that allowed smoking. The measure passed out of the House Health Committee yesterday.

An international landmark destination like Waikiki Beach should not be sullied by cigarette butts, Brower said, and part of maintaining Hawai'i's image as a healthy state should include banning smoking at the popular beach.

"The beach is littered with cigarette butts, and this will make a statement that we want to keep one of our great resources litter free. When you're on the beach and you're around children, this is not a good place to smoke to begin with," Brower said. "Having a smoke-free beach helps. The overwhelming majority of people who are active at the beach are not there to smoke."

Twenty-nine other state representatives have signed on in support of the bill, which has been referred to the House Water, Land and Ocean and Finance committees and must advance out of those committees before a final vote is taken by the House.

The state and county governments fought long battles to pass the smoking bans currently on the books. It took more than a decade for Honolulu to ban smoking in bars and restaurants, and the state followed suit in 2006.

Last year, another House bill that would have expanded the workplace smoking ban to prohibit smoking on public beaches and in parks and recreational areas died in committee.

Only Hawai'i County bans smoking at beaches, beach parks and all county recreation areas, and that ordinance required a 7-2 vote by the Hawai'i County Council to override then-Mayor Harry Kim's veto.

The Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii supports Brower's bill and touted the state's smoke-free ban prohibiting smoking in bars, restaurants and the workplace as evidence that the majority of Hawai'i residents don't want cigarette smoke in public gathering places.

"These laws have helped to change social norms. Our young people are growing up in a Hawai'i that promotes health by ensuring children and families are protected from secondhand smoke," Trisha Y. Nakamura, policy and advocacy director for the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii, said in testimony submitted to the Health Committee. "The bill at hand is an opportunity to create outdoor areas for our children and families free of dangerous secondhand smoke as well as protect our beautiful environment."

Schuyler and Rhona Hoss, former Honolulu residents who now live in Vancouver, Wash., walked along Kalakaua Avenue near the sand yesterday. Both said they'd like to see the ban passed.

"I don't like smoking at all. Because so many people are outside smoking here you notice it," Schuyler Hoss said.

Rhona Hoss, who was born and raised in Honolulu before moving to Washington with her husband, said the ban would be good for the island's image.

"Any kind of regulation to limit or stop smoking is a good thing," she said. "It destroys what I remember about Hawai'i."

BILL HAS OPPONENTS

Not everyone backed Brower's proposal yesterday, as smokers and some nonsmokers questioned how far government would go to regulate personal choice. Others claimed that rather than invite tourists it would deter those who enjoy tobacco.

Robert J. Finley, chairman of the Waikiki Neighborhood Board, said the issue of cigarette butts in the sand at Waikiki Beach has never come up at meetings.

"To me it's a little extreme," Finley said. "What are we going to do, ask people to paddle five miles out in a canoe to smoke a legal cigarette?"

John Pangan, a 30-year-old Information Technology technician who was born here but now lives in Alaska, said he doesn't smoke but isn't sure the state should be prohibiting smoking outdoors.

"As a nonsmoker, I'm all for nonsmoking but I think once you're outside, in the open air, it's kind of like imposing rules in outer space," said Pangan, as he sat on a wall on Kalakaua Avenue next to Waikiki Beach yesterday.

Michael Zehner said people should be allowed to smoke outdoors and that banning smoking in open areas only creates enforcement problems and does little to prevent littering.

"This bill is little more than another sad and bigoted product of the professional anti-smoking lobbyist groups and their war against your constituents and our visitors that enjoy tobacco," Zehner said in testimony submitted to the Health Committee.

The Hawaii Smokers Alliance does not support the proposal.

"It is simply amazing that lawmakers are even considering such a ludicrous bill which will only further increase our falling tourist numbers," Kawika Crowley said in an e-mail. "I'm against this lunacy."