Judge tosses Pierce County, Wash.'s smoking ban

OLYMPIA, Wash. (Jan. 27) - A Pierce County Superior Court judge granted a request by hospitality business owners to throw out a weeks-old countywide ban on smoking in all indoor establishments, including restaurants, bars and bowling alleys.

Supporters of the ban were not available for comment about plans, if any, to appeal.

"High fives all around for people who believe in the law," Washington Restaurant Association chief executive Gene Vosberg said after the ruling by judge Ronald Culpepper.

The WRA, though not involved in the court action, vociferously opposed the ban during public hearings, arguing that the measure was in violation of the 1988 Washington Clean Indoor Air Act. That statewide legislation specifically exempted from smoking bans restaurants, bars and casinos, among other businesses. Culpepper agreed with the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, a group of businesses calling itself the Entertainment Industry Coalition, that the Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health, which approved the ban, lacked the authority to override the exemptions included in the Clean Indoor Air Act.

Vosberg said the WRA would watch closely the progress, if any, of proposed legislation that sprang from the Pierce County controversy, including a bill that would ban all indoor smoking.