Mar. 29, 2002 - TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--The state Supreme Court gave the go-ahead Thursday to the wording of a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban smoking in Florida businesses, including bars and restaurants, setting up a potential battle between Big Tobacco and anti-smoking groups at the ballot box in November. 

In a unanimous decision, the justices found that the wording on a proposal by a group of health associations meets constitutional muster: It sticks to a single subject, and the language is straightforward. 

Health groups pushing the measure hailed the unsigned opinion as a major defeat for the tobacco industry, which has joined forces with Florida restaurants to mount a counter-offensive. 

"Today is a great day for Floridians seeking the right to breathe clean air," said Edie Ousley, a spokeswoman for the Smoke-Free for Health campaign. 

Nearly half a million petition signatures are required to put the initiative on the ballot. Smoke-Free for Health says it has collected more than 629,000 signatures, and state election supervisors have validated two-thirds of those. 

The amendment would prohibit smoking in restaurants -- except in outdoor seating areas -- and enclosed workplaces, including employee break rooms. Exceptions would be made for stand-alone bars, designated guest rooms in hotels, and home businesses that don't provide child care. 

The restaurant industry opposes the measure and told the court that the wording voters would see on the ballot mentions "enclosed indoor workplaces" -- but not restaurants specifically -- and voters might not realize they are voting to ban smoking in restaurants as well. 

But the justices said most voters are astute enough to realize that people "work in places such as restaurants." The text of the proposed amendment -- which does not appear on the actual ballot -- includes restaurants in the definition of enclosed indoor workplaces. 

If a pro-smoking group is successful, voters could see dueling ballot proposals in November. A group backed by tobacco giant Philip Morris USA, hotels, the Florida Restaurant Association and the state's biggest business lobby, Associated Industries of Florida, is proposing a counter ballot initiative. 

The Committee for Responsible Solutions would put current law, which requires restaurants to set aside 65 percent of their space for nonsmokers, into the state Constitution. 

"It's a reasonable alternative to what they've got out there," said committee spokesman John Van Gieson. "We think it should be to the restaurant owners to decide." The group has yet to go ask the Supreme Court to review the initiative's language, and thus far has only collected 50,000 signatures. 

The current law is one many restaurants, particularly in South Florida, applaud. 

Alan Roth, owner of Rumi, a restaurant and lounge on Lincoln Road, said he supports nonsmoking sections, but believes banning smoking entirely would be an inconvenience to smokers -- and the business they generate. 

"You have to understand who your clients are," said Roth, who tries to accommodate the smoke-averse with a special ventilation system at his restaurant. "Besides New Yorkers, there's a lot of Europeans and South Americans. They smoke." But Patrick Kennedy, a spokesman with the American Heart Association Florida/Puerto Rico affiliate, said the choice restaurants give diners between smoking and nonsmoking is a choice in words only. 

"The choice is between smoking and second-hand smoking," he said. 

By voting for the measure, Kennedy said, voters would be sending Big Tobacco a resounding message that they don't have to live with other people's smoke. 

Supporters of the Smoke-Free for Health campaign plan to vigorously oppose the restaurant-backed ballot language. "We don't believe the Constitution is the place to play mind games with the state of Florida," he said. 

Should both pass, however, it would be up to the state Supreme Court to craft a compromise that best reflects the will of voters. 

By Jacqueline Charles and Lesley Clark. Herald staff writer Lila Arzua contributed to this report, which was supplemented by The Associated Press. 

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(c) 2002, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.