Bill to ban smoking goes up in smoke
Thursday, April 05, 2007
http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/wb/xp-111817
Health groups had pushed for legislation banning smoking in restaurants.
Mason Adams
RICHMOND -- An attempt to ban smoking in all Virginia restaurants failed Wednesday by a 59-40 vote in the House of Delegates.
The General Assembly this winter passed a bill to dismantle requirements that restaurants maintain a nonsmoking section. However, all restaurants would then become nonsmoking unless they posted a "smoking permitted" sign at each entrance.
The bill's sponsor, Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said the measure would apply market forces to pressure more restaurants into going smoke free.
Gov. Tim Kaine amended the bill to remove the sign exemption. That meant the bill prohibited smoking in all state restaurants. Griffith, in response, argued the amendment would have unintended consequences.
"Not withstanding the good intentions of the governor, he mucked up the law," Griffith said.
Any business that serves food, he said, would be affected, including catering, push carts, motels with room service and even private clubs.
"Many of your constituents who want restaurants to be smoke free are going to have a problem if you say to the veterans of this country, or the Moose or the Elk or the Odd Fellows or whoever else, that in their private club they can't smoke a cigarette," Griffith said.
Kaine said he would have approved the bill if it merely required the posting of "Smoking Permitted" signs. After Wednesday's rejection of his amendment, however, Kaine said he will veto the bill because of "the rollback of no-smoking sections in restaurants."
Griffith said his bill's fate will likely ensure that nothing else happens for at least a while.
"I think it will happen someday, but it will take more than two years for a smoking bill to get out of committee as a result of this," Griffith said. "I don't plan to get involved in that."
Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, who has pushed for a broader ban on indoor smoking, said he was disappointed with the House vote. But Bell, whose bills were killed in a House subcommittee, said he was happy the full House finally had to vote on the issue.
"This year we got a vote in the entire House," Bell said. "We're getting closer and closer to finding the right type of legislation that will fit for Virginia."
A coalition of health groups called Virginians for a Healthy Future had pushed heavily for legislation banning smoking in public places such as restaurants.
"We're disappointed but not really surprised," said Cathleen Smith Grzesiek, Virginia director of advocacy for the American Heart Association, which is part of the coalition. "Big tobacco has deep pockets and they definitely reached into them for this. We're just really happy the governor amended the bill the way he did and it went to the floor vote."
The vote kills any hope of a smoking ban for the year. Griffith said he felt like the governor undermined what had been a "good-faith effort."
This fall, all 140 members of the General Assembly will be up for re-election. And although the groups that make up Virginians for a Healthy Future are nonprofits that cannot work to influence elections, Grzesiek said, voters do have an interest in the issue of secondhand smoke.
She cited a poll of 625 registered voters conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, which showed 71 percent of Virginians favor a statewide law to prohibit smoking in most public places.
"Even without an organized effort, this is an issue important to Virginians and their voices will be heard throughout the next year," Grzesiek said.
Certainly, this year represented a larger success for state smoke-free advocates than any time in recent history.
Since the landing at Jamestown, tobacco has been a huge part of Virginia's economy. Lawmakers still refer to tobacco leaves engraved in the ceiling of the state capitol. That's actually not true -- the engravings portray acanthus leaves -- but the myth still shows the strength of the industry.
In 2005 and 2006, tobacco interests contributed nearly $1.1 million to state candidates. Since 1996 they've given $5.1 million to state candidates.
But tobacco's grip on the public has waned over the past couple of decades. In 1991 the General Assembly passed the Clean Indoor Air Act, which requires restaurants of a certain size to maintain a nonsmoking section.
Both of the General Assembly's bodies have generally declined to pass bills to make state law even more restrictive.
That changed last year, though, when Bell shepherded a bill to ban smoking in most indoor places through the Senate. It was killed in a House subcommittee, with opponents arguing it infringed on the private property rights of business owners to choose for themselves.
Last summer, smoke-free advocates picked up more momentum when the U.S. surgeon general issued a report concluding there is no risk-free exposure to secondhand smoke.
A legislative campaign called Smoke-Free Virginia Now followed, complete with stickers and yard signs.
Legislators seemed to respond. Bell reintroduced his bill to ban smoking in public places.
In addition to Griffith, five delegates in the House filed bills to address secondhand smoke. All were killed in committee.
Staff writer Michael Sluss contributed to this report.
