DES MOINES - A conference committee set to find a compromise on a statewide public smoking ban approved a proposal that would impose a broad ban with major exemptions for casino gaming floors and the Iowa Veterans Home.

That proposal, approved along a party-line vote Monday night, could come up for a vote in the House as early as Tuesday.

Rep. Tyler Olson, D-Cedar Rapids, who led efforts to pass the smoking ban in the House, said he would have preferred a proposal without the latest exemptions, but felt they were needed to gain enough votes for approval in the full House.

Olson still believes the proposal is progress, and said public pressure to pass a ban is increasing.

"I think it's more important to protect 99.9 percent of Iowa's workers in public places than it is nothing. We have to get 51 votes in the House, and 26 in the Senate, and this is the bill, I think, that has the best chance to do it," Olson said.

House and Senate leaders said they did not know when they would bring the proposal up for a vote. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, said last week he would call the measure up within a day after the conference committee report.

Senate Minority Leader Ron Wieck, R-Sioux City, a conference committee member who voted against the measure, said it takes away the rights of Iowans and business owners.

"I think nanny government continues to push forward and tell Iowans how they should live their life, and I don't think that's right," Wieck said.

Legislative leaders appointed the bipartisan committee after members of the Iowa House and Senate failed to agree on details of a ban.

Manybusiness groups and bar and restaurant owners have lined up squarely against the idea of a smoking ban, while public health groups have pushed for the smoking restrictions.

Smoking ban supporters point to the negative health effects of secondhand smoke as a reason to ban it in public places.

Sen. Bill Dotzler, a Waterloo Democrat and committee member, voted for the committee report so it could move the Senate floor for a vote, but said he plans to vote against it there.

Dotzler has raised concerns about bar owners potentially losing business if smoking is still allowed in a casino across town.

Brian Froehlich, owner of Fro's Pub 'n Grub in Wilton, was at the State Capitol Monday to lobby against a smoking ban that would apply to bars.

He said more than 70 percent of his clientele smokes, and he won't enforce the ban in his bar.

"I'm not going to ban it," Froehlich said. "My people - I take care of my people."

Charlotte Eby can be reached at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com.