Show Me: CASPER’S LAW FAILS

In this case study you can see how good intentions over a restaurant smoking ban led to an unforeseen consequence.

What Happened
In the spring of 1999, a group of Casper, Wyo., high school students proposed a ban on restaurant smoking as a part of Government Day activities. Some of the students worked in restaurants and were being exposed to secondhand smoke on the job. A Casper City Council member responded to this request for protection from secondhand smoke by drafting a clean indoor air ordinance.

Usually this type of policy change request would have been made after tobacco control advocates had laid the groundwork with business owners and politicians. Instead, in August 1999, the Natrona County Tobacco Use Prevention Coalition in Casper, Wyoming was asked to support the clean indoor air ordinance being proposed by the council. (The ordinance actually amended an 11-year-old city law that banned smoking in public places, but exempted restaurants and bars. The proposed law would include restaurants and bars where 60 percent or more of gross sales come from food.)

The coalition worked diligently. It conducted a poll in October of 1999. Members served on a working committee of the Casper City Council to develop support for the ordinance and address the concerns of local restaurant owners who were opposed to the proposed restrictions. Coalition members testified at city council meetings and working sessions and managed a public education campaign. Staff from the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society provided technical support.

But opposition to the proposed law was lead by local restaurant owners with financial and technical assistance from the tobacco industry and local tobacco industry lobbyists. The Wyoming Restaurant and Lodging Association was active during council proceedings and instrumental in advancing a referendum initiative that placed the issue before Casper voters after the city council had approved the ban.

Despite efforts of the coalition and passage of the ordinance by the Casper City Council, the bill was defeated at the polls on May 16, 2000, by a vote of 5505 (48 percent) in favor to 5934 (52 percent) opposed. This was a very close margin; the result might have been different had the students and the coalition worked together from the outset.

Following voter action, the Casper City Council was forced to rescind the ordinance.

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