Public smoking is now banned in the state of Washington, as of midnight this morning. Not only is it banned from public places but while smoking outside, you are required to be 25 feet from the entrance of any public building. At this time, tribal establishments are exempt from the law, as expected since their reservations are not subject to our laws.
Personally, I’m pretty happy about it, but I think the 25 feet part goes a bit too far. I’ve walked into a smoky bar for 20 seconds and walked out smelling of smoke; I’ve never once lingered with a group of people that were smoking outside and retained the scent… I can’t imaging walking through a horde of smokers to enter a building would be any different, but for now, it’s the law.
What is also odd is how this law will be enforced, but I think this is due to the culture out here.
In Connecticut, when they enacted their smoking ban in bars, they tasked the bar owner with enforcement. Meaning that if a cop – or health inspector? I don’t know who was given the task of investigating places there – found a smoker in a bar, the owner was fined $500 an instance. Given the very nature of the bar business – vicious! – the owner would then hand that fine down to whoever was working that night. So if you smoked in a place, the bartender(s) got screwed for it.
In Washington, if a cop – and yes it’s a cop’s job out here – enters a public place and sees someone smoking, they hand the person a ticket for $100. The individual is responsible for their actions, rather than the establishment. That will make it harder to enforce, since the bar owners have no skin in the game, but the stranger part will be if it actually works. Remember, this is the same state that has “Unguarded pay for parking”. They have lots out here that have numbers; put your money in the numbered slot that matches your number and call it good. No receipts, no proof required. It’s Honor parking system. In Connecticut, there would be no money in the box. In New York, the box – and possibly the pole – would have been stolen within the first 48 hours of posting, so that no one would have to pay.
Either way, it should make for an interesting time out at the bars this weekend…
I expect some sour people… When my dad stoped drinking with stomach problems(he only drank a beer a night) he started practacly throwing chairs at me…
It should be interesting. When it happened in CT, I knew a bartender that was working at a place… she was telling me that the people screamed at her when she told’m to stop – she screamed back at them because it was HER pocket that would be impacted by it. Hard to have a similar conversation with someone if it’s THEIR pocket… they could slap down $100 and say “screw you – I’m smoking”, yet I don’t know how often that would happen in WA – I dunno.
Like I said – should be interesting.