Hennepin County Lifts Smoking Ban

In what was somewhat of a surprise, Hennepin county commissioners voted 4-3 to peel back the current smoking ban and adopt a looser ban that is more consistent with the Ramsey county ban. The new ban ALLOWS BAR OWNERS TO CHOOSE to allow smoking as long as less than 50% of their revenues come from food. The 4-3 vote came as a bit of a surprise. The new ban goes into effect the first of the year.

The bans issued in Bloomington, Golden Valley and Minneapolis are still in effect, so bars in these municipalities will remain under those city bans which essential mirror the current Hennepin county ban. In reality, only about 3% of Hennepin county bars & restaurants will be impacted by the new ruling. Still this is a victory for all those who believe in the rights of individual property owners and is definitely a David beats Goliath story.

A lot of credit goes to bar owners like Sue Jeffers of Stub and Herbs and so many others who lobbied not only on annecdotal evidence but also worked diligently to compile hard facts, figures and research. It shows what a group of citizens can do when they band together and present a well reasoned case. Even big money special interest groups like MPAAT and the American Cancer Society can be backed down from their social engineering agendas.