No no-smoking exemption for Sloppy Joe's

Gov. Bush vetoes a bill tailored just for the historic Key West bar.

By LUCY MORGAN
Published June 11, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Saying he was troubled by creating a law that benefits only one business, Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed a bill that would have helped Sloppy Joe's, a Key West bar and onetime hangout for writer Ernest Hemingway.

In 2002, voters approved an amendment to the Florida Constitution prohibiting tobacco smoking in enclosed indoor work spaces. The law exempted stand-alone bars where food service was merely incidental to the business.

Lawmakers said bars that make more than 10 percent of their business from food sales would not qualify for the exemption.

The owners of Sloppy Joe's wanted to sell more food but still allow smoking after saying a smoking ban could cost them more than $500,000 in sales.

Bush said he thinks the current standards are working and does not want to encourage "carve-outs" to the law to benefit individual businesses.

Bush also objected to a provision that would have made proprietors of the bar responsible if their patrons violate the law.

[Last modified June 11, 2005, 00:25:17]