Smoke-free casinos bill moving again in Iowa House after Senate lawmakers rejected similar proposal

DES MOINES — The goal of smoke-free Iowa casinos lives on at the Iowa Capitol, where a bipartisan panel of lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a proposal to end casinos’ exemption to the state’s public smoking ban.

Iowa House lawmakers advanced the bill Tuesday even though a similar proposal was struck down last week in the Iowa Senate.

“I’ve been very supportive of the casinos, but I think it’s time to level the playing field,” said Iowa Rep. Shannon Lundgren, a Republican from Peosta who owns a bar and restaurant and previously worked in casinos.

Iowa’s state-licensed casinos can allow smoking on gaming floors under an exemption to the state’s Smokefree Air Act, which in 2008 prohibited smoking in most public places, including work sites, restaurants and bars.

The latest proposal, House File 781, would repeal that exemption and thus add Iowa to the 20 other states — including all the state’s geographical neighbors except for Missouri — that prohibit smoking in casinos.

The bill is supported by advocates for cancer awareness and public health. They cite Iowa’s cancer rates — the state has the second-highest cancer rates in the nation and the only rising rate — and the health danger posed to casino workers.

Lundgren, who owns a bar and restaurant in Northeast Iowa, also argued that repealing the casinos’ exemption would be appropriate to create an even regulative playing field for all Iowa businesses. Lundgren said the disparity was one of the motivating factors when she first decided to seek election to the Iowa Legislature in 2016, and it has been one of her legislative priorities ever since.

Talking to reporters after the hearing, Lundgren pushed back at arguments made by casino companies that air filtration systems and non-smoking sections mitigate the impact of secondhand smoke on casino workers and patrons, and worries that the legislation could have a negative impact on their fiscal health.

“If infiltration systems and air systems work, then why didn’t we let everybody do that? And if non-smoking sections worked, which we had them in restaurants, why didn’t we let people continue that way,” Lundgren said. “It’s time. With cancer rates the way that they are in the state of Iowa, it is time to move this forward and protect those employees over profits, which I don’t think are going to drop anyway.”

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Casino companies and the Iowa Gaming Association, the organization that advocates for the 19 state-licensed casinos, are the only groups registered in opposition to the bill, according to state lobbying records.

All three legislators on a subcommittee panel Tuesday supported advancing the proposal to the full House Commerce Committee, which is scheduled to consider the bill Wednesday.

Rep. David Young, a Republican from Van Meter, said he also supports the House bill in an effort to make the state law equally applied to all businesses; and Rep. Austin Baeth, a Democrat from Des Moines who is a doctor, stressed the need to pass the bill as a way to protect Iowans’ health.

The same bill last year passed through the House Commerce Committee, which Lundgren chairs. It was not considered by the full Iowa House.

Lundgren said she has not yet discussed the bill with majority Republicans in the Iowa Senate. Last week, a Senate bill that proposed to repeal casinos’ public smoking ban exemption failed to advance when Republican Sen. Dawn Driscoll of Williamsburg and Democratic Sen. Tony Bisignano of Des Moines declined to support it.

Nearly 9 out of 10 lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking or secondhand smoke exposure, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends all casinos be 100 percent smoke-free.

Twenty states require 100 percent smoke-free gambling venues, according to information compiled by the American Cancer Society.

Cedar Crossing, a $250 million casino and convention center being built in downtown Cedar Rapids, will become the state’s 20th licensed casino once it is complete — which is scheduled for late 2026.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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