Hunter
01/28/26
A bill that would ban smoking at Iowa’s casinos has failed to advance through a Senate subcommittee.
Iowa Capital Dispatch reports Democratic Senator Tony Bisignano of Des Moines did not vote in favor of the bill, but made a “promise” that a reversal of the exemption would happen “relatively soon.”
Advocates for the bill, including representatives from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association and American Heart Association, said the bill would protect gambling establishment employees who, under current law, are subject to secondhand smoke during their shifts.
Lobbyists on behalf of casinos in Iowa argued the bill would put them at a competitive disadvantage with casinos that do allow smoking.
Jackie Cale of the Cancer Society Action Network spoke at the subcommittee meeting and stressed that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure, making it an occupational hazard for casino workers.
Senntor Bisignano, who was joined by Republican Senator Dawn Driscoll of Williamsburg in voting against the bill, said the bill “wasn’t going to go anywhere” and he didn’t want to give “false hope” by passing it out of the subcommittee. He serves on the board of directors for the Prairie Meadows Casino in Des Moines, but said smoking is bad and it was absurd to leave casinos out of the original Clean Air Act. He said he will be pushing for the ban in the future.