From: Joe@smokefree.org
Date: Mon, 01/09/06
Ohio Seeks Ballot Initiative for Clean Indoor Air
Health groups go directly to voters bypassing weak legislature
Ohio, 1/10/06-- Ohio could become a smokefree workplace state by 2007, if voters
approve a proposed smokefree workplace ballot initiative in November. The
American Cancer Society is leading the health initiative. Tracy Sabetta,
co-chair of the SmokeFree Ohio program, said that twenty-one Ohio cities have
already passed some form of smokefree legislation.
As part of the process of putting an item on the general election ballot,
SmokeFree Ohio collected more than 97,000 valid signatures, Sabetta said. The
Legislature will now have four months to consider the proposal.
If the General Assembly does not act on the proposal, or if it makes changes to
the proposal that SmokeFree Ohio opposes, the group can turn in another 97,000
signatures and have the issue placed on the November ballot.
Sabetta said that SmokeFree Ohio members worry that the state Legislature will
weaken the proposal because of pressure from tobacco-related lobbyists, so the
group wants to go directly to Ohio voters.
The initiative on the November ballot would be defined as a smokefree workplace
law, so almost any indoor area where people work would be smokefree. The law
would include restaurants and bars. Establishments which receive 80 percent or
more of their income from the onsite sale of tobacco, such as tobacco retail
stores, would be exempt.
"Laws passed by ballot initiative always result in stronger laws than those
passed by legislatures," says Joe Cherner, president of SmokeFree Educational
Services, Inc. "Ballot initiatives make no compromises or carve-outs for
special-interest groups. Legislatures, on the other hand, often weaken
smokefree laws under pressure from influential contributors like the tobacco
lobby."
Clean indoor air initiatives are very popular with voters, usually passing by
overwhelming margins. Arizona is also expected to place a smokefree workplace
initiative on November's ballot.
Eleven states-- California, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Montana, Vermont, Washington, and New Jersey-- and
the District of Columbia have adopted comprehensive smokefree workplace laws.
To win clean indoor air where YOU live, go to www.smokefree.net/alerts.php
Joseph Cherner
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
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