This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Protesters smoking hookahs outside the Capitol on Tuesday may have helped send their cause up in smoke, boosting opponents attempting to persuade the House to vote to ban hookahs and electronic cigarettes in indoor public places.
"They smoked outside today," said Rep. Brad Last, R-Hurricane, sponsor of HB245. "They could have done it inside and there would be nothing we could say" under current law. So the House voted 42-31 to endorse the bill, and sent it to the Senate.
Currently, hookahs and e-cigarettes fall into a gray area because Utah's Indoor Clean Air Act only bans igniting tobacco. Hookahs heat tobacco in pipes that pass through water and e-cigarettes vaporize a liquid with nicotine, but neither ignites tobacco.
"You see it happening more in movie theaters, buses and trains," Last said about use of the products. "The dangers of secondhand smoke are still unclear," he added, and noted that e-cigarette smokers are "blowing nicotine into the air."
The bill, however, exempts hookah bars and e-cigarette shops from the ban for five years, when the exemption will sunset, and the Legislature may revisit whether to extend it.
Protesters from the Huka Bar & Grill in Murray, and other huka bars filled lobbies at the Capitol on Tuesday. Protestors said the ban would shut down the bar and put 90 people out of work.
Rep. Brian Doughty, D-Salt Lake City, proposed giving those establishments a permanent exemption to the ban, but it failed on a 35-39 vote.
"We should not be limiting personal liberties that affect a local business," he said.