The City Council postponed a vote on a smoking ban exemption until later this month and referred a keg registration proposal to the Public Safety Review Board Tuesday night.
The smoking ban proposal involves a hardship exemption that would allow smoking in bars if the establishment could show a 10 percent decline in business from July through October compared to the average income of those same months over the last three years, said Ald. Austin King, District 8.
\We do not want people to start claiming their business went down since the smoking ban, which is why the council will look for a 10 percent loss in sales,"" said Ald. Zach Brandon, District 7.
If the City Council approves the joint measure, bars would be able to apply for the hardship exemption and a public referendum on April 4 would allow the public to vote on the status of the smoking ban.
If a bar owner receives a hardship exemption, that exemption would remain in effect through the public referendum until April 19, 2006, Brandon added.
King said if the referendum yields a public approval of the ban, any exemptions would be revoked, allowing the smoking ban to be put back in place.
Ald. Paul Skidmore, District 9, supports a repeal of the ban.
""It is an issue of freedom of choice,"" Skidmore said. ""It does not solve problems, it only moves smokers elsewhere,"" he added.
Next Tuesday, the PSRB will look at a new adaptation of Skidmore's keg registration proposal. The proposal would limit people to purchase no more than two kegs with exceptions for approved events such as weddings and religious events, Skidmore said.
His earlier proposal was rejected by the Alcohol License Review Committee last July.
Verveer said keg registration would only be an inconvenience to anyone in the Madison community who tries to buy a keg.
""This new proposal has not changed, it is a solution in search of a problem"" said Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4.
Skidmore, who will introduce the proposal next week, said the previous version had technical flaws which have now been cleaned up.
Not only would keg registration force purchasers to sign a sworn statement giving their name, age and contact information, but landlords would also be held responsible if their tenants break alcohol-related laws, Skidmore said.
Verveer said keg registration would only encourage people to purchase kegs outside of the Madison area.
""People will only be more sneaky about house parties and purchase cases of beer and hard liquor,"" Verveer said.
Skidmore says he hopes the PSRB will approve his proposal for submission to the City Council by October, in time for the annual Halloween celebration.
