Bar owners: Smoking changes paid off

Four Kegs even customized its air conditioning to mix outside air into the restaurant, making it a higher pressure than the bar. When someone walks through the door between the two areas, the air always blows into the bar.

“You don’t smell smoke anywhere in here,” said owner Mario Perkins while leaning against a booth.

Perkins installed the “expensive” separation immediately after voters approved the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act in 2006, clearing smoke from grocery stores, restaurants and other places.

“We did it the right way, and I’m glad we did,” he said, showing the double-doored glass box where bartenders put drinks for waitresses in the dining area to pick up. “It cost a lot of money but has paid for itself.”

Other bar owners opted to close their kitchens rather than comply with the act. The ensuing harm to their businesses, they said, was reason enough to loosen the reins imposed by voters.

Their lobbying succeeded.

At the 11th hour of the legislative session, state lawmakers squeezed a bill through Tuesday that modifies the Clean Indoor Air Act, allowing food and smoking in establishments where the clientele is 21 and older.

The bill needs Gov. Brian Sandoval’s desk signature to take effect. The governor wouldn’t comment on the likelihood of his signature until it reaches his desk, spokeswoman Mary-Sarah Kinner said.

Even if the bill becomes law, Perkins doesn’t plan to change Four Kegs’ layout.

“When I grew up, parents would drive the car and smoke with the windows up while we were in the backseat. It’s not like that anymore,” he said.

He has found that families don’t want to eat where others smoke, even if Perkins’ stromboli has earned a national reputation because of TV appearances.

“So many people appreciate doing without smoke,” he said.

However, Perkins and Jaime Holcombe — another bar owner — support the bill.

“Plenty of places don’t want to separate. I understand that,” said Holcombe, owner of Lakes Lounge, which separated its interior in 2006. “Doing so turned out to be more expensive than I anticipated, but it ended up helping us out financially.”

Plus, the act complicated too many things, he said.

It forced bar-goers to order food to go and then bring it into the bar. The bartender couldn’t even bring it to them, which was a hassle, he said. The bill would drop that rule.

But this isn’t about business, an American Cancer Society member said.

“The money interest won here. Health didn’t,” said Tom McCoy, Nevada government relations director for the Cancer Society’s action network. “And it wasn’t the people who wanted to change the law but tavern owners.”

McCoy was referring to a February poll of 800 voters finding that 82 percent of them wanted the Clean Indoor Air Act kept unchanged.

But the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association have little recourse because the Clean Indoor Air Act is more than 3 years old. After three years, the state is free to change voter initiatives.

“We always suspected this might happen,” said Amy Beaulieu, the lung association’s director of tobacco control policy in Nevada. “We’re concerned for workers’ health.”

Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.