From: SMOKEFREE@compuserve.com
Date: Mon, 04/07/08
Please contact the four members of the Conference Committee (listed below
newspaper editorials) urging them support a compromise that lets local
governments protect workers from tobacco smoke pollution. The state law
should be the minimum, not the maximum, for protecting workers and public
health. So far, none of the four have expressed any willingness to
support ANY compromise (from their previously stated views, or between the
House and Senate approved versions of SB 246), which is the very purpose of
a Conference Committee.
Bill Godshall
Smokefree Pennsylvania
412-351-5880
- - -
Lawmakers waffle on smoking ban
Erie Times-News (editorial)
April 6, 2008
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080406/OPINION01/8040603
81/-1/OPINION21
There is no hurry. That's the disturbing message that a bipartisan
conference committee of Pennsylvania lawmakers delivered last week on the
subject of a statewide smoking ban. They are so wrong, and impatience for a
ban seems to grow by the minute.
Rep. Ron Miller, R-York, said he needs the extra time to work on an
amendment regarding requirements for ventilation equipment that will clear
smoke out of a bar or club.
Hello? The same Surgeon General's report that concluded secondhand smoke
can have deadly effects also concluded there is virtually no ventilation
system that can effectively clear a room or a building of cigarette smoke..
There are no air-cleaning miracles and no designated smoking and nonsmoking
areas that can really protect people from the effects of smoking.
This looks more like another ploy to delay a ban and to set the stage for
umpteen exceptions that the tobacco lobby and other special interests are
demanding.
The talk in Harrisburg is that small bars, private clubs and parts of
casinos will be exempted if the conference committee ever gets around to
actually drafting smoking-ban legislation. The Harrisburg Patriot-News
reported Wednesday that the working plan now is to create an escape clause
for casinos, bars, restaurants and private clubs that want to attract
smoking customers. These businesses could allow customers to smoke if they
don't allow children, and if they submit to air-quality tests.
It makes you think the Legislature must be contemplating a statewide
smoking ban that would basically allow businesses to decide whether they
want to allow smoking or not. That sure doesn't sound like a statewide
smoking ban.
That might be just fine for one conference committee member, state Rep. Bob
Belfanti, D-Northumberland County, a leading proponent of smokers' rights..
"This is still the United States of America, with a capital USA, and I do
believe that everyone has rights," he told the Harrisburg newspaper.
Smokers' rights, huh? The whole trouble with the "rights" argument is that
it clashes with the "rights" of the nonsmoking majority.
That's why 15 states -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut,
Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York,
Ohio, Rhode Island, Washington and Vermont -- plus the District of Columbia
and Puerto Rico prohibit smoking in almost all public places and
workplaces, including restaurants and bars.
It's time for Gov. Ed Rendell to once again lay down the law to the
lawmakers. He should threaten to veto any measure that includes exceptions
beyond private clubs and some floors of casinos. That's bad enough.
- - -
Smoke screen for smoking ban
Scranton Times-Tribune (editorial)
April 3, 2008
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19449254&BRD=2185&PAG=
461&dept_id=418218&rfi=6
Over the last two years dozens of state legislatures and scores of national
parliaments around the world have moved aggressively to protect public
health by enacting bans on indoor smoking in public places. But in
Harrisburg, a six-member House-Senate conference committee can’t come to
agreement because some of its members are willing to subordinate public
health to favored narrow interests.
In carrying water for tavern, casino and tobacco interests that oppose a
smoking ban that otherwise has broad support, some members of the committee
blew some smoke of their own.
Rep. Robert Belfanti, of Northumberland County, echoed the era of tobacco
industry "scientists" who used to claim that there was no definitive link
between tobacco smoke and diseases. In this case, Mr. Belfanti claimed that
government studies have not proved that air filters and ventilation systems
don’t work when used to together. That was part of a discussion of an
amendment being drafted by Rep. Ron Miller, of York, who wants to regulate
minimum air-quality standards rather than ban indoor smoking in public
places.
The surgeon general of the United States already has concluded, however,
that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke. The only way to achieve a
safe level is to ban indoor smoking in public places.
In order to protect favored interests, several committee members and some
of their supporters in the Legislature have attempted to complicate the
simplest of issues. The correct path couldn’t be more obvious. It has been
blazed by science and by thousands of lawmakers around the world who have
relied on that science to shape legislation.
When the conference committee gets around to meeting again at the end of
April it, too, should rely on well-established science and move to protect
the health of all Pennsylvanians by crafting a comprehensive indoor smoking
ban.
- - -
Escape artists
Beaver County Times (editorial)
Friday, April 4, 2008
http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2008/04/04/opinion/editorials/doc47f50c
03be8ea966996971.txt
The six-member House-Senate committee charged with crafting legislation on
indoor smoking in Pennsylvania has postponed making a decision until at
least the end of the month.
The panel had been expected to vote Tuesday on a proposal. Instead, it
voted 4-2 to give itself more time to study the matter.
Given that this is Pennsylvania General Assembly we’re talking about, their
go-slow approach is expected. It’s extremely difficult and takes great
skill to come up with legislation that gives the illusion of doing
something significant while actually doing very little.
When it comes to governing and responsibility, Pennsylvania’s lawmakers are
escape artists.
- - -
Smoke Free Pennsylvania Act Conference Committee (SB 246) to contact:
Senator Charles T. McIlhinney, Jr.
187 Main Capitol
Senate Box 203010
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3010
717-787-7305
FAX 717-783-5962
cmcilhinney@pasen.gov
Senator Robert J. Mellow
535 Main Capitol Building
Senate Box 203022
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3022
717-787-6481
FAX 717-783-5198
mellow@pasenate.com
Representative Robert E. Belfanti, Jr.
30 East Wing
PO Box 202107
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2107
(717) 787-5780
Fax: (717) 787-5763
rbelfanti@pahouse.net
Representative Ron Miller
111 Ryan Office Building
PO Box 202093
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2093
(717) 783-8389
Fax: (717) 705-2095
rmiller@pahousegop.com
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