From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Proponents of a bipartisan bill to pave the way for more cigar bars in Wisconsin said at a public hearing that the legislation would help boost business, though others raised concerns about potential harms.
The American Cancer Society spoke against the bill yesterday, arguing it would undermine the state’s smoke-free air law.
AB 211 would exempt tobacco bars from an early 2000s-era law banning smoking in most public places in Wisconsin. Specifically, the measure would exempt tobacco bars that existed on or after June 4, 2009, only allow cigar and pipe smoking, and aren’t a retail food establishment. Tobacco bars that existed on June 3, 2009, are already exempt from the smoking ban under current law.
Rep. Nate Gustafson, R-Fox Crossing, said the legislation “supports small business and economic growth.”
“It is a pro-business legislation, allowing growth while preserving public health standards. Crucially, this bill in no way is weakening the statewide smoking ban,” he said.
Sara Sahli, government relations director for the American Cancer Society Action Network, said the legislation is “substantially more comprehensive and more harmful than it looks.” She disagreed with Gustafson, saying the bill would undermine the current smoking ban.
She said the bill would allow for the smoking of little cigars, which she called “brown cigarettes.” Little cigars contain tobacco, usually have a filter, and are about the same size and shape as cigarettes. The main difference between little cigars and cigarettes is that little cigars are wrapped in a tobacco leaf or other substance containing tobacco, while cigarettes are wrapped in paper. Little cigars are considered cigars for tax purposes in Wisconsin.
Sahli also said it’s not clear who would be responsible for regulating the 15% sales threshold to be considered a tobacco bar.
“Wisconsin would need to create new procedures to track the location and revenue of these tobacco bars. This bill does not put any of those procedures in place,” Sahli said.
Meanwhile, Brothers Helping Brothers co-founder Delorean Walls spoke in support of the bill. He runs a men’s support group that meets weekly at Prohibition Spirits and Cigar Lounge in Green Bay. He said the group is helping prevent men like himself from suicide, and having more cigar bars around the state would help spread that work.
“What looks better in my mouth — a cigar or a .45?” Walls said.
— An Assembly Committee has voted to advance three bills supporting mental health programs despite Dem opposition to a lack of funding for each.
Dems on the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee introduced an amendment for all three bills adding funding, which failed each time along party lines, leaving funding up to the Joint Finance Committee.
AB 299, which would require the Universities of Wisconsin to contract with mental health providers for UW institutions with no more than 30,000 enrolled undergraduate students, passed 8-2 with Rep. Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa, voting for the bill despite concerns about lack of funding attached to the bill. The other two Dems voted no.
“I’m going to stay at the table with you until the finish line, but I’m going to keep pushing that we do the responsible thing, and this is fiscally irresponsible,” Vining said.
AB 303, which would provide grants to organizations that provide crisis intervention services through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, passed unanimously along with AB 304, which would provide a grant of $1 million to Lutheran Social Services to renovate an existing Chippewa Falls facility to provide a 50-bed addiction treatment center for men.
Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston, said the money is there and asked for trust, saying, “You need to get the bill in, and then the dollars come with.”
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