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PHOENIX — A statewide smoking ban in bars and restaurants that took effect more than a year ago has not had a major financial impact on the industry statewide, according to a new report.

But the study acknowledges that some businesses were, in fact, hurt by the voter-approved law.

And the report does not show whether people are smoking less — or simply going to places where they can still light up.

The study, commissioned by the state health department, relies largely on sales-tax data to show that overall receipts at bars and restaurants have pretty much been as forecast. Will Humble, deputy state health director, said that shows that the measure is not killing the industry.

But the study, done by the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, drew some derision from Bill Weigele.

"I'm not going to say it's skewed," said Weigele, president of the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association, which represents bars and restaurants that serve alcohol. "I'm just going to say that I'm not sure that they talked to the right people."

Humble acknowledged that the overall sales figures have their limits.

"That doesn't really tell the true story if you're a single business owner with unique circumstances," he said.

The report itself acknowledges that while overall sales were unaffected, some bars and restaurants have been hurt. And the key, said Weigele, is how the law is crafted.

The ban, approved by voters two years ago, prohibits smoking in most public places. That includes not only restaurants and bars but office buildings, health-care facilities and common areas of hotels and motels.

A competing measure financed by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to exempt bars from that list was defeated.

But the one that passed does have a crucial exemption: It permits smoking on outdoor patios.

The study says that provision is crucial. It notes that the owners and managers of some restaurants and bars said the ban actually increased their business — primarily because they have a large outdoor seating area where smoking is permitted. Weigele said that's small comfort to those who lost customers.

"Those people that were independent operators, small tavern operators that relied heavily on smoking clientele got hurt," he said. He said they were unable to "jump through all the hoops" that some communities demanded to set up outdoor patios or simply were not in a building where that was an option.

And the report says one in five establishments that had allowed smoking before the ban but now were smoke-free said business has declined.

Bill Pfeifer, president of the American Lung Association of Arizona, brushed aside the fact that some bars and restaurants lost business.

"You'd have to talk to the economists more about that," he said. "From a public-health standpoint, our position always is, hey, we ended up better and it did not have a negative impact on business as a whole."

As to whether smokers simply are frequenting different bars and restaurants — those with outdoor patios — Pfeifer said that presents a different question.

"We don't know that they're still smoking," he said. Pfeifer said it will take a separate study by the health department to determine if that's the case.

The most recent figures are from 2007, which show 19.8 percent of Arizonans smoking, an increase from 18.2 percent the prior year. Statistics for this year will not be available until 2009.

Pfeifer said even if people are still smoking — albeit outdoors — the smoking ban already has accomplished much of its goal.

"Look at it this way, from a public-health standpoint: Do we have healthier indoor work environments?" he said. "And I think the answer to that is, of course we do."

The report itself does not reach a conclusion about why overall business at bars and restaurants has remained the same.

One possibility, it says, could be that while smokers are not going out as much, that has been offset by non-smokers spending more at the same businesses. It also says it may be that smokers are still going to many of the same businesses but simply stepping outside to light up, perhaps switching to places with smoking patios.