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The agency is attempting to nip a growing trend of bars holding “theater nights.” Employees and customers declare themselves actors so they can smoke inside. One bar in northeastern Minnesota bar was staging a show called the “The Tobacco Monologues.”
The 6-month-old smoking ban has an exemption for theatrical productions, but Health Department Commissioner Sanne Magnan said bars appear to be improperly circumventing the law.
“It’s time for the curtain to come down on this play of theatrics and get on with the business of protecting Minnesotans from the harms of secondhand smoke,” Magnan said.
She said the agency will work with local health agencies to bring bars into compliance.
Under the law, establishments that allow smoking can be fined up to $10,000. Magnan said her agency would work to educate bars on the law before imposing penalties.
The Freedom to Breathe Act allows smoking during theatrical performances as long as patrons are notified in advance that smoking would take place and written notice is included in the performance program.
Magnan said her department sought advice from lawmakers and the attorney general’s office before issuing its warning about compliance.
Mark Benjamin, a Cambridge lawyer who helped draw bar owners’ attention to the exemption, didn’t immediately return a phone message. But he told the Albert Lea Tribune he considered it strange that the Health Department was issuing a legal opinion.
“I’m waiting for tomorrow to see if the Attorney General
s Office will give out flu shots,” Benjamin said.
One of the law’s legislative sponsors, Rep. Tom Huntley of Duluth, hasn’t ruled out passing a new bill to tighten the law.
Huntley said bars that allow patrons to puff away at future theater nights do so at their own risk.
“They better be prepared to spend a lot of money on lawyers as they continue these,” he said.
The Senate’s chief backer, Sen. Kathy Sheran of Mankato, said the Health Department’s notice settles the matter.
“I’m hoping the few that are involved in this will acknowledge it and start to make changes in how they conduct business,” she said.
