No matter what happens in the legislative session starting today concerning moves to ban smoking in private clubs, butts will be snuffed out — permanently — in at least one group of clubs.

"As of Feb. 1, we are making the private club segment of our restaurant facilities . . . smoke free," said Tom Guinney, a partner in the Gastronomy restaurant chain. Private clubs affected are The New Yorker Club, the Wine Bar at Baci, and the Market Street Oyster Bars in Cottonwood and downtown Salt Lake City.

Guinney, a member of the Salt Lake Valley Board of Health, made the announcement Sunday, standing on the sidewalk in front of the Oyster Bar and the New Yorker, 54 and 60 W. Market St., respectively.

The announcement supported SB77, "Amendments to Indoor Clean Air Act," sponsored by Sen. Michael G. Waddoups, R-West Jordan. The measure seeks to remove the exemption that allows smoking in private clubs and taverns. It also would repeal the section of the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act that grandfathered adjoining private clubs and public places that share ventilation systems built before 1995.

A recent Deseret News/KSL TV poll showed most Utahns do not favor a law that would halt smoking in bars and private clubs, saying the decision should be up to the management of the business. But Guinney said Gastronomy is going ahead with the ban no matter what happens to SB77.

The reason cited for Gastronomy's decision is concern about health. "Foremost, health concerns for our employees," but also for patrons, he added.

It is a "worker's rights issue."

While a customer may visit one of the clubs for an hour and 15 minutes, Guinney said, employees work there eight hour a day, "day in, day out."

"Second-hand smoke kills over 200 of our citizens in the state of Utah every year," he said. Estimates of the financial burden of diseases caused by others' smoking runs into many millions of dollars.

"The debate over secondhand smoke was over a decade ago," he said. "It's time. It truly is time" for a ban.

Younger people who have grown up knowing about that hazard are asking whether smoking in the private clubs is a problem.

"It's time for us fellows that are a little bit more senior to take care of this, on our watch," Guinney said.

Besides SB77, he said, two other bills are pending before the Legislature aimed at controlling smoking in private clubs. Details vary among them, and Guinney does not know how any will fare.

But this isn't the decision of the Legislature, but his own action, he said.

Asked how employees feel about the move, Guinney said he has not asked or lobbied them about it. "Is there employee support? Of course there is."

In other places where the ban is in place, business tax revenue is up and the dollar value of the services is better than ever, he added. This is a solid, good move in an economic sense, he said.

At some point, exposure to secondhand smoke in private clubs will involve workers' compensation, according to Guinney. "It's a safety issue."

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com