Smoking-Ban Exemption Is Rejected

Publication Date: 2005-06-24

• Author:CHRISTOPHER KEATING
• Publication:Hartford (CT) Courant

In a victory for anti-smoking advocates, lawmakers rejected a provision Thursday that would have changed the state's ban and allowed smoking at some off-track betting parlors and the Bridgeport dog track.

The exemption was buried in section 83 of a massive bill that implements the state's $31.2 billion, two-year budget, but lawmakers and advocates noticed the proposed change that would have removed 27 words from the existing state law.

When word spread in the Democratic caucus of the House of Representatives, lawmakers decided to strip the provision after arguing that bars and restaurants would start demanding an exemption if the gambling exemption were approved, legislators said.