LAS VEGAS - The kitchen at the Inn Zone bar on South Rainbow Boulevard has been closed for five years. That was when voters approved a measure to ban smoking in restaurants and bars that serve food. A bitter taste has been brewing ever since.
"It's put a lot of people out of jobs," said Inn Zone bartender Jamie Thomas. "I know some people that complied and made renovations, put 20, 30, 40 thousand dollars into their establishment. It didn't matter, because there are so many people out there that didn't do anything to comply with the rules."
Like all bars and taverns in 2006, the Inn Zone had a decision to make: renovate partitions to separate the dining area from smokers or completely shut down the kitchen.
"Renovations far exceeded the amount of money that our bar does, so for us, it was a lot easier to just close the kitchen - which unfortunately put some people out of work. But, that's how we've been operating since," said Thomas.
Assembly Bill 571, introduced in Carson City, would roll back provisions of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, allowing businesses like the Inn Zone to reopen their kitchens.
Read Assembly Bill 571
"I just hope that maybe they'll go back to how things were five or six years ago. Let these places - if they want to have food - let them have food. Anything that's going to support the economy and supplies jobs is well worth it," Thomas said.
Opponents of the proposed bill, like the American Lung Association, say lawmakers are trying to dramatically change a law voters approved. The ALA says the law is a matter of health, not business.
"That exposes all those workers again to secondhand smoke, and there's no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke," said American Lung Association of Nevada Director of Tobacco Control Policy Amy Beaulieu.
Three hundred and ten thousand Nevadans approved the smoking ban. If lawmakers and the governor approve AB571, the ban on smoking in bars that serve food would lift immediately. The ban would remain in effect for other public establishments.
