SALEM, Ore. -- A measure to snuff out smoking inside Oregon's bars and taverns is back on track and appears likely to pass in the 2007 Legislature, despite some lawmakers' earlier worries that a smoking ban could make it tougher to balance the state budget.

The bill stalled after state fiscal analysts said the smoking ban could shrink revenue by $50 million in the coming two years, by reducing video lottery play and by cutting into sales of cigarettes and alcohol -- and the taxes the state collects on them.

This past week, however, Senate President Peter Courtney came to the conclusion that protecting public health trumps concerns over a possible revenue hit. So he's asked the Senate Revenue Committee in the coming week to advance to the full Senate a bill to clear the air in Oregon's bars and taverns by requiring smokers to step outside to indulge their habit.

"It's time we do this. The danger of secondhand smoke to the people who work in these places is well documented," the Salem Democrat said.

In 2001, the Legislature passed a measure that outlawed smoking in businesses but exempted bars, taverns, bar areas inside restaurants, bowling alleys and bingo halls in most places.

Anti-smoking groups have been pushing for years to extend Oregon's workplace smoking ban to bars and taverns, and they were heartened to hear that the bill is moving again.

More than 35,000 Oregonians work in those establishments, and a U.S. surgeon general's report issued last year made it clear that their health is put at risk by exposure to secondhand smoke, anti-tobacco activist Tabithia Engle said.

"We are very hopeful the bill will pass, because those employees are being exposed to dangerous, deadly chemicals in the workplace," said Engle, spokeswoman for the Tobacco-Free Coalition of Oregon.

The coalition has a strong ally in House Speaker Jeff Merkley, who says the House is ready to extinguish smoking in bars and taverns once and for all.

"It's the right thing to do," the Portland Democrat said. "This is about protecting the health of Oregon's citizens."

Although some lawmakers have questioned the $50 million estimate of lost revenue, Senate leaders have decided to have the smoking ban take effect in January 2009, instead of next January, to soften the impact of any revenue drop on the coming two-year budget.

Delaying the start of the smoking ban until 2009 also would give Oregon's bars and taverns -- and their customers -- time to get used to the idea that smokers' last indoor public refuge is eventually going to disappear.

The Oregon Restaurant Association, representing 3,000 bars and restaurants, has strongly opposed past bills to ban smoking in bars and taverns, but isn't taking a position on this year's bill.

"We still think it's taking away the rights of adults to do what they want to do," said association spokesman Bill Perry. However, he noted that other places, including neighboring Washington state, have moved to ban smoking in all indoor business establishments, and that anti-smoking advocates have threatened to take the issue to the 2008 ballot if the Legislature doesn't act.

"Most of our people thought it was going to get on the ballot and pass, so they were expecting the 2009 date anyway," Perry said.

Aside from the one-year delay in implementation, another pending amendment would exempt so-called "cigar bars" from the ban on indoor smoking. The change was sought by Sen. Ryan Deckert, chairman of the Senate Revenue Committee, who called it a narrow amendment that would apply only to the 20 to 30 such establishments now in the state.

The Beaverton Democrat, who has on occasion patronized cigar bars, said they are generally small, self-contained areas within bars or taverns with their own ventilation systems where customers can go to smoke cigars.

"So the bill will say, `If you've already got a cigar bar; and it's self-enclosed and has a ventilation system, you can keep it,' " Deckert said. Engle, the Tobacco-Free Coalition spokeswoman, said she's not thrilled with that amendment but can live with it because it is narrowly drawn and applies only to a relative handful of such establishments.

"We're making these political concessions because we want to get these laws passed to protect as many workers in Oregon as possible," she said. In 1998, Corvallis became the first city in Oregon to adopt an ordinance banning smoking in bars and taverns. Since then, Eugene, Philomath, St. Helens and other local governments have adopted similar ordinances.

The 2001 legislation kept in place the local ordinances already adopted, but it blocked efforts to ban smoking in drinking establishments in other places.