On Oct. 31, smoking in cigar bars was expected to stop in Nebraska. In August, the State Supreme Court ruled that an exception for cigar bars made to the 2008 Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act was unconstitutional. By the end of this month, licenses for those bars were to expire, meaning smoking would be no more in cigar bars. Today, the cigar bars caught a break. The Nebraska’s Attorney General office is filling an appeal on the matter and until that is resolved, the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission will continue to allow the cigar bars to renew licenses and allow smoking. Hobert Rupe, the executive directory of the agency, consulted with the state’s Attorney General’s Office before announcing the decision today. If that exemption was not made, all 11 cigar bars in the state would become smoke-free by the end of October. The Supreme Court ruled in a majority decision that “there is no difference in circumstances between tobacco retail outlets and all other public places and places of employment so as to justify the expediency of diverse legislation and that the exemption in § 71-5730(3) is therefore unconstitutional special legislation.” In other words, the 2008 law was made to limit all ...
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