Complying with the smoking ban is confusing for some nonprofits and veterans groups which thought they were exempt.
By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published August 5, 2003
The health department letter arrived at Elks Lodge 2582 the day before bingo night.
Someone had turned them in.
The decision would have to be quick: Ignore the letter and possibly pay some $250 in fines or bite the butt and ban smoking now.
"We figured sooner or later everybody's going to get it," said Harry Smith, a secretary for the Spring Hill fraternal order, which offered its first smokefree bingo night in lodge history on July 24 - and lost hundreds of dollars, as well as several longtime members.
Florida businesses started complying with the smoking ban inside workplaces on July 1, but the transition has been bumpy, thanks to several exemptions written into the law.
While the exemptions as applied to standalone bars and outdoor patios seem fairly clear, they are hated by some Hernando County owners of newly smokefree restaurant bars who say they are losing business to exempt bars where smokers now congregate.
But the legislative exemptions are more confusing as they relate to nonprofits and veterans associations, most of which, like Elks Lodge 2582, thought they were exempt and could keep smoking.
The legislation creates a vague exemption for nonprofit membership groups if they conduct "noncommercial activities" and if no person is engaged in work.
At this point, the two state agencies enforcing the ban have declared the exemption does not apply to nonprofit groups that employ workers, like bartenders, administrators, janitors, or contract services, such as a band or a plumber.
However, nonprofit membership group's bingo nights are still a major gray area.
The law doesn't define "commercial" activity, so the state agencies haven't decided how the rules would apply to nonprofit-sponsored bingo. In Hernando County, the almost daily bingo events bring these nonprofit groups thousands of dollars and often fund the groups' charitable services.
"The law speaks very broadly about these issues, and this is something that's going to be worked out," said Lindsay Hodges, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health.
The health department, along with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, has 180 days from July 1 to design specific rules about enforcing the state law. That means the uncertainty about the law's impact on membership organizations will remain at least until the rules are completed.
Regardless of the uncertainty, the state health department is still sending out warnings and demanding answers from Hernando County membership groups that continue to allow smoking, including Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10209 and Disabled American Veterans Chapter 67, in addition to Elks Lodge 2582.
While a few local nonprofit groups, like Knights of Columbus St. Jude Council 6383, have banned smoking, the majority of county veteran and fraternal groups have said they don't understand the law and will continue to allow smoking in their buildings until they're told otherwise.
"I have no idea if we're exempt or not, but it don't look too good," said Cmdr. Ed Noll of Veterans of Foreign War Post 10209, which permits smoking despite their health department warning letter received last week.
American Legion state headquarters has formally asked the state attorney general for a clarification of the law as it relates to American Legion posts, said executive director Dyke Shannon. About a third of the legion's 310 posts in the state could be affected by the legislation.
"Our posts want to do the right thing, but we're confused," Shannon said.
Several smokers who attended American Legion Post 99 Thursday afternoon bingo in Brooksville said they avoid bingo events that now ban smoking.
"Let's face it, you don't smoke while you're taking a bite of food, but the bingo hall, that's entirely different," smoker Richard Scaglia said.
Another controversial exemption in the legislation allows smoking in standalone bars, as long as food sales remain lower than 10 percent of overall sales. But the exemption has been a source of great frustration to some Hernando County owners of restaurant bars that had to ban smoking starting July 1.
Although the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce has received no complaints about the new smoking legislation, state agencies regulating the ban have received nine complaints of smoking violations at different businesses throughout the county.
Newly smokefree restaurants with bars reported slower business in July and blamed the smoking ban. Boston Cooker Restaurant and Oyster Bar in Spring Hill noticed a 30 percent drop in overall July sales and Victoria's Steak House & Lounge in Brooksville reported a 50 percent drop in overall July sales, said Boston Cooker manager Craig Hall and Victoria's owner Victoria Gibson.
Several called for state legislators to kill the exemptions and ban all smoking, like in New York and California, so no business would have a competitive advantage among smokers.
"We're getting killed by the private clubs and freestanding clubs," said Bill Freel, manager of Spare Time Sports Bar & Eatery, the lounge attached to Mariner Bowling Lanes. "If there were no exemptions, then there wouldn't be people thumbing their nose at the law calling themselves exempt when they truly are not."
- Staff writer Jennifer Liberto covers business and development in Hernando County and can be reached at 848-1434 or liberto@sptimes.com
