Casino smoking ban rejected by House committee

Publication Date: 2010-05-06

• Author:Jan Moller
• Publication:New Orleans (LA) Times Picayune

The effort to broaden Louisiana's indoor smoking ban appears to be dead for the session after a House committee this morning shelved legislation to require non-smoking areas on riverboat casinos.

The action by the House Health and Welfare Committee on House Bill 1323 sends a clear signal that committee members are in no mood to follow their counterparts in the Senate, where the health committee voted unanimously last week to ban smoking in bars and casinos.

The House bill by Rep. Rick Nowlin, R-Natchitoches, was far less comprehensive than the Senate measure, but still drew strong opposition from casinos and a lobbyist for the tavern industry, who said he feared it would be amended on the House floor to ban smoking in bars.