AUGUSTA — A proposed statewide smoking ban in restaurants got off to a shaky start Tuesday after a legislative committee recommended the bill ought not pass. By a 6-5 vote, the Health and Human Services Committee voted against LD 1349, An Act to Protect Citizens from the Detrimental Effects of Tobacco.

Absent for the vote were two committee members, Sen. Georgette Berube, D-Lewiston, and Rep. Michael Quint, D-Portland. Quint, who had attended the first part of the committee meeting, had said he was in favor of the bill. Berube is expected to vote against it, according to committee members.

Quint and Berube have until noon today to vote. Berube could not be reached for comment.

Regardless of the committee vote, the bill will come before the House and Senate for debate.

“We expected a divided report,” said Dora Mills, director of the Maine Bureau of Health, which originated the bill. “This was not a surprise to us at all.”

Mills said she is confident the bill will pass. Its supporters include the governor and party leaders in both houses. A statewide opinion poll conducted last week by a Maine television station found 70 percent of those polled favoring the ban.

The committee’s Senate chair, Judy Paradis, D-Frenchville, said after the committee meeting that the bill has broad support from lawmakers.

The Health and Human Services Committee voted against passage of a similar bill two years ago. The Senate passed that bill, while the House voted to indefinitely postpone it.

Sentiments appear to have changed in two years. Indeed, some legislators opposed to the ban in 1997 are now supporting it, such as Senate Minority Leader Jane Amero, R-Cape Elizabeth.

During the committee meeting, Rep. Thomas Kane, D-Saco, said, “I don’t recall too many bills we’ve looked at where we had such a clear understanding of the people’s will as we have on this one.” The bill addresses a huge public health issue — so big, he said, that committee members should look beyond “local and vested interests.”

But to some committee members, the act of banning smoking in all restaurants is first and foremost a local issue.

“I can’t vote for this because I want to assure local control,” said Joe Brooks, D-Winterport. Noting that Portland made a choice to ban smoking citywide last fall, Brooks said that each city should work with its restaurants in creating any regulations.

Rep. Lois Snowe-Mello, R-Poland, said that with the ban the Legislature was “getting into micromanagement.” Leave restaurant owners alone and let them make the decision whether to go smoke free, she said.

“I hate smoke, but I do believe in choice — I believe in freedom,” she said.

Rep. Glenys Lovett, R-Scarborough, told the committee that she was a very pro-business lawmaker. “But having the restaurant people say year after year that if the Legislature does anything, it should be a statewide ban, well, I’m going to support this bill with vigor.”

“For some this is a small-business issue and for others it’s a public health issue,” said Rep. Daniel Williams, D-Orono. “It’s both, but I prioritize it as a health issue.”

Williams recited a list of places in which smoking has been banned in the state in the past 15 years: jury rooms in 1984, employee workplaces in 1985, publicly owned buildings in 1987, hospitals in 1989 and public buses in 1990. Restaurants were required to have nonsmoking areas in 1994.

“There are times when choice is superseded by health considerations,” he said. “This is one of those times.”