The Nevada legislature has voted to ease smoking restrictions in bars.  Last year voters approved a ban of smoking in establishments that serve food.  Of course casinos were exempted from the rule (the occupational health of dealers isn’t important), but neighborhood bars that previously served food had to choose between serving food and allowing smoking.  Some chose to eliminate food service, others chose to ban smoking or to provide a separate room for drinking and smoking.  Local small bars claim that the smoking ban ruined their business.

Less than a quarter of adults smoke.  But what do people do when they gamble?  Drink and smoke.  Neighborhood bars survive because of their slots, so it could be valid that this hurt their business.  A lot of people WILL avoid smoky bars, but that people who gamble generally want to smoke.  For other people who want a pleasant meal or to hang out at a nice wine bar, it has been a good change in the past year to be able to do it smoke-free.

Despite the referendum, the legistature has now decided to alter the smoking ban so that food and smoking can go together again, with smoking banned only where children are likely to be present.  So regular restaurants should remain smoke-free, and smoky bars can sell bar food again.  This may be headed to the courts to see if the legislature can overturn a referendum.

In a related story ( in the category of “Your Government Inaction”):  while the Governor was proposing cutting UNLV’s budget by 53% because of the State’s extreme deficit, a Senate committee voted not to tax legal prostitution.  Hmm, money for education vs. money for the prostitution industry.  I guess it’s like any other professional service that doesn’t pay state tax (lawyers, doctors, etc.)

(As you know, prostitution is not legal in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located.  We don’t have that kind of stuff here.)