Committee approves cigar-lounge bill amendment to include pipe tobacco; bill given do-pass as amended

Representative Dan Ruby, sponsor of House Bill 1440, asked the committee to clarify two issues that had arisen since last session’s creation of a cigar-lounge exemption to the indoor smoking law: whether a new lounge must demonstrate prior-year cigar sales to qualify, and whether pipe tobacco should count toward the sales threshold.

"What I'm proposing is a slight amendment ... to allow the cigar lounge to be licensed in their first year and then to meet the threshold to qualify to be renewed," Representative Dan Ruby said, describing how the tax department was interpreting the existing statute.

Josette Dupree, owner of Big Stick Cigar Lounge in Mandan, said the law helped her open a lounge and asked lawmakers to add pipe tobacco because "pipe tobacco simply is a deconstructed cigar," and many customers who use pipe tobacco cannot currently smoke their product in the lounge under the tax department’s interpretation.

Public-health groups urged the committee not to expand exemptions to the smoke-free law. Andrew Horn of Tobacco Free North Dakota said the 2012 Smoke Free Air Law has protected public health and that "there's no system that will fully eliminate the smoke from any enclosed space," citing HVAC expert positions in the record; he urged a do-not-pass recommendation. Ben Hanson of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and a representative from the American Heart Association offered similar opposition.

Committee members debated whether adding pipe tobacco constituted an unacceptable erosion of indoor-smoke protections. Representative Olson moved an amendment to add pipe tobacco to the 15 percent sales threshold language and to allow first-year certification for lounges without prior-year sales; Representative Anderson seconded the amendment. The committee voted to adopt the amendment by voice.

Representative Doctor moved a do-pass as amended; Representative Olson seconded. The committee then took a roll call vote on the do-pass as amended. The clerk recorded the ayes and nays: the motion passed with ten yes, two no, and two members absent (result announced by the chair as "successful by 10-2 with 2 absent and not voting"). The roll call recorded Yes votes from Chairman Hedlund and representatives Anderson, Doctor, Dressler, Greenheck, Machtenbacher, Nearing, Olson, Steiner and Tholman; No votes were recorded for Representatives Foss and Vista.

Ending: House Bill 1440 was given a do-pass recommendation as amended to include pipe tobacco and to permit initial licensing without prior-year cigar sales; the committee’s decision followed testimony from business owners and health advocates and a short floor-level debate about expansion of the smoke-free-law exemption.