Sounds like this was a dream of big government types... raise state revenue through the issuance of permits and waivers, and gain more regulatory concessions from the bar and restaurants.
How could the bar and restaurant owners have possibly thought letting the state clamp even more regulations on them would be a good thing? Hope they're happy.
Actually most didn't, they were conned by the power of the antis claiming business would improve because all of the non-smokers who never went out because of smoke would come running to fill their businesses.
Of course that didn't happen, but by the time that became apparent, the antis were no where to be found - they had already left to go onto their next target.