In honor of the second anniversary of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, which banned smoking in most indoor spaces, three local businesses have been presented with the Extra Mile Award for voluntarily expanding the ban.

The awards were presented Friday at the Cancer Control summit at the Peppermill Resort Casino. Local businesses Nikki Beach night club, Silver Peak restaurant and brewery and Bill’s Casino Lake Tahoe were given the award for moving beyond the requirements of the Act.

Silver Peak owner Trent Schmidt said he had no qualms about making his business 100-percent non-smoking, including the outdoor patio area where smoking could be allowed under the law.

“It makes everything more pleasant and you get a different kind of person that wouldn’t have come here if we allowed smoking,” Schmidt said. “Also, if you’re trying to enjoy a steak and the guy next to you is having a cigarette, the food is pretty negatively impacted.”

Although Schmidt is pleased with the ban on smoking, Paul Sonner, owner of Bully’s Sports Bar and Grill, had feared the act would be detrimental to business. In response, he created Smokin’ Bully’s, a “smoking bar” that is intended to be a bar within a bar. The setup of Smokin’ Bully’s allows patrons to order food on one side and smoke on the other.

“I like that Bully’s is doing this because I remember when you would go into a place and be able to cut the smoke with a knife,” patron Kris Mickelson said. “It’s really neat how they can combine the two and circumvent the issue.”

At the new Spanish Springs location of Bully’s, the smoking establishment is set directly next door to the sports bar, allowing smoking patrons to enjoy drinking and gaming as they did before the ban, with the option to eat next door.

“I have friends who smoke and they say that when they are eating they like a clean air environment,” patron Scott Parry said.

Silver Peak’s Schmidt believes the passage of the Clean Air Act leveled the playing field and allowed him to reinforce his anti-smoking establishment.

“I didn’t necessarily want to alienate the part of the population that chooses to smoke,” Schmidt said, “but I eliminated it outside because I didn’t want it to become a smokers’ haven.”

Although Sonner feared the financial repercussions, Schmidt found that the net effect of eliminating smoking on the premises was negligible.

“Initially there was a negative financial impact but long term it has been positive,” Schmidt said.

To comply with the requirements of the act, Smokin’ Bullys and Bully’s sports bar have two separate business licenses. This arrangement allows customers to purchase their food on the sports bar side and carry it over to the smoking side in to-go containers.

“Some people stopped serving food, but we didn’t want to because that would force non-smoking bar people to deal with the smokers,” Sonner said.

Overall, Schmidt believes that the ban on smoking has had a positive impact on the younger crowd by deterring their smoking.

“I’m going to be the first to say that I have snuck a puff off a cigarette when I have been drinking,” Schmidt said. “But how cool is it really to come in smelling like butt?”