New legislation currently being passed around the state Senate and Assembly could prohibit Madison’s smoking ordinance from going into effect this summer.

The bill has not yet been introduced in the state Legislature, but a draft is currently circulating in both the Senate and Assembly in hopes of gaining additional co-sponsors. If passed, the bill would restrict local governments from enacting smoking-ban policies not in “strict” accordance with state laws.

State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and state Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, authored the bill, which they hope to introduce soon.

Scott Fitzgerald spokesman Mike Prentiss said the legislation was written because of confusion over inconsistent policies among municipalities in the state.

“[The bill] is good public policy,” Prentiss said. “[If passed], it would provide a better way of doing things with one set of statewide standards.”

The new legislation would restrict local governments from adopting new smoking regulations unless the ordinance “strictly” conforms with state law, according to the text of the proposed bill.

Prentiss said the legislators did not write the bill in response to Madison’s passage of a smoking ban, and they are not yet certain what effect their bill would have on the city-wide ban set to start July 1.

“We’re really not sure what effect our bill will have on Madison yet,” Prentiss said. “We just want to avoid this hodgepodge of different municipalities … playing by different rules in the state.”

But Ald. Austin King, District 8, says the legislation was proposed in order to halt the Madison smoking ban from being enacted this summer, despite what the legislators claim.

“The whole point to this ordinance is to overturn Madison’s smoking ban,” King said. “I’m offended they are taking the decision-making away from us. It’s anti-democratic.”

Jeff Fitzgerald spokesman Brian Pleva affirmed the bill would set up a statewide smoking policy, and that this could potentially affect local municipalities.

“[The bill] would sort of trump every other local [smoking-ban] policy that happens to exist,” Pleva said.

And King disagrees with the proposed bill for precisely this reason.

“It’s asinine,” King said. “It’s another Republican attempt at taking away home rule from municipalities.”

But Prentiss said the bill would provide local businesses more freedom to decide whether they want the ban, rather than having the government enforce a ban on something “perfectly legal.”

“If there’s really a great demand for [a smoking ban], why not let the market do its thing rather than the government saying you have to do things a certain way?” Prentiss suggested.

He also added the proposed legislation would create equal competition among business owners who may have different regulations.

“[The bill] would make a level playing field for anyone trying to go into business or currently in business, so a Madison bar owner isn’t competing with a Middleton bar owner across the street … with a different ordinance.”

However, King countered that conforming municipality ordinances to statewide control is “ridiculous” because it offers an unrealistic “one-size-fits-all” solution for the entire state.

“We already have different regulations [between municipalities], such as alcohol regulations,” King said. “We’re different cities … Madison is different than other places and I like it that way.”

The legislators’ proposal also aims to expand the current Wisconsin ban on smoking in restaurants.

State law currently allows smoking in any restaurant holding a liquor license if alcoholic-beverage sales are greater than 50 percent of total sales, and restaurants with less than a 50-person capacity are excluded from the ban. The new legislation would expand the prohibition to include all restaurants, regardless of capacity.

— Aubre Andrus contributed to this article.