MINNEAPOLIS, February 18, 2008—The latest attempt to get around the statewide ban on smoking in public places is for taverns to pretend to be theaters that allow smoking, thus allowing audience member to smoke.

But Rep. Thomas Huntley, author of the Freedom to Breathe Act, isn't giving the theater gimmick any kind of ovation.

The Freedom to Breathe Act , passed with the strong support of Minnesota physicians, went into effect last year. It bans smoking in the workplace, with one of the few exceptions, which allows actors to smoke in a theatrical production.

Huntley's opinion?  Smoking is not acting.

The representative from Duluth said he thinks bars are breaking the law when they present “plays” that involve smoking. He says he plans to ask the Minnesota attorney general and the Minnesota Department of Health for opinions on the legality.

But, he added, he has no plans to revise the law.

Huntley admitted to the Duluth News Tribune Friday that he felt “a little nervous” when Guthrie Theater officials asked for an exception to the smoking ban for plays. Now he feels he was right to be nervous, as bars in Mille Lacs and other places are taking advantage of the theatrical exception, exposing workers to secondhand smoke in defiance of the law.

Duluth News Tribune story