A Kentucky bill to allow indoor smoking in cigar bars regardless of local ordinances passed through its first committee vote Tuesday.
The bill defines a cigar bar as a place with a retail liquor license that makes at least 15% of its profits from cigar and pipe tobacco products. Under the bill, the cigar bars must also be limited to those 21-years-old and older and permit only cigar or pipe tobacco smoking inside — no vape products, electronic cigarettes or other nicotine products.
Louisville Republican Rep. Chris Lewis said the bill does not seek to repeal the smoke-free laws.
“This bill will not roll back any municipalities' local smoke free law. That's not the intention,” Lewis said. “This is not about having a cigar in a regular bar or a bowling alley or a restaurant. This will not allow that.”
Lewis presented his bill alongside Anthony Piagentini, the Louisville councilmember who leads the city’s Republican caucus. Piagentini previously attempted a similar carveout in Louisville’s indoor smoking ban in 2021. The proposal failed.
“People are coming for the Derby, people are coming for these large events, and they are quite literally going across the river and they are doing business in Indiana when they find out that we have no venue whatsoever to enjoy a cigar and a bourbon,” Piagentini said.
Some communities in Kentucky already have exceptions for cigar bars in their city or county’s smoke-free ordinance. Others don’t have restrictions on indoor smoking. For example, Paducah’s indoor smoking ban already has an exemption for cigar bars and lounges, although its definition of a cigar bar varies from the one set out in the state legislation.
Doug Hogan, government relations director for the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network, urged lawmakers to vote against the bill. He said the legislation would contradict the will of the Kentucky cities and counties that enacted their own strict smoke-free ordinances.
“The bill will not roll back all elements of the 44 smoke free ordinances, but it does roll back some of those and provide local government officials with no authority to stop what may be described as a very loosely designed ‘cigar bar,’” Hogan said.
According to the University of Kentucky’s Smoke-Free Ordinance Database, 38% of Kentuckians live in communities with smoke-free laws that include all indoor workplaces and public places, each with their own specific guidelines and rules.
Dr. Michael Gieske is the director of the lung cancer screening program at St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Northern Kentucky. He said he remembered when smoking was frequent indoors. Gieske said the decline in smoking — and consequently the decline in lung cancer mortality — is in part due to comprehensive indoor smoking bans.
“When you have a comprehensive smoke free policy, that's where you get the biggest bang for your buck,” Gieske said. “It lowers smoking across the board. It lowers lung cancer mortality. If a smoking policy is not comprehensive, you don't see that same benefit.”
The legislation would allow local governments to require cigar bans to have yearly permits, including required facility inspections and documentation. It would also require that the cigar bar keep smoke from entering other nearby homes and businesses and must have a “smoke-free space” for people who aren’t employees or patrons, like delivery drivers or mail carriers. The cigar bar also has to provide a notice that people will be exposed to smoke inside at all of the entrances.
Two Democratic lawmakers on the committee voted against the bill. The legislation now moves to a vote on the House floor.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
