Exemption to county smoking ban proposed for hookah bar
Dane County’s smoking ban, less than a week old, is already facing a challenge from a town of Madison restaurant that wants to be let off the hookah.
Mediterranean Hookah Lounge & Cafe owner Tommy Hanna said he is complying with the county’s ban on cigarettes, but he’s been risking a county fine by still allowing patrons to pass the pipe.
The restaurant has offered hookahs — large glass water pipes for smoking flavored tobacco — for three years. The pipes make up a significant portion of the revenue for the business, which is unique in Dane County, Hanna said.
“I don’t mind not having the cigarettes,” Hanna said. “(But) I haven’t stopped my hookahs.”
Dane County Board Sup. Melanie Hampton, of Madison, is proposing an exemption for specialty tobacco businesses such as cigar and hookah bars.
The exemption would be similar to the cigar bar exemption Madison adopted in 2006, a year after the city’s smoking ban took effect. At the time, the exemption only applied to one establishment, Maduro, a Downtown cigar bar.
Hanna asked the County Board to include the exemption during debate on the county’s ban last year. But Sup. Mark Opitz, of Middleton, who sponsored the proposal, said he opposed watering down the ban with exemptions at the time.
“My concern was that the more exemptions you have, the more issues you create,” Opitz said.
But with a state ban already exempting specialty tobacco bars and stores due to take effect next year, Opitz said he would not oppose an exemption to the county ordinance now — unless the county will be allowed to keep its stricter law in place once the state ban starts.
It’s unclear whether the state law will allow that, however.
Maureen Busalacchi, executive director of Smoke Free Wisconsin, interpreted the state’s smoking ban as allowing counties to be more restrictive, except when regulating outdoor smoking areas.
But the Tavern League of Wisconsin disagrees. “Our interpretation is that the state law pre-empts all other local ordinances,” executive director Pete Madland said.
© AUG 19, 2009 Madison
