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Senate reverses course, passes smoking ban
By Brad Bumsted, STATE CAPITOL REPORTER
June 11, 2008
Reaction was swift, and not everyone was pleased with the compromise bill.
Pa. Legislature passes smoking ban bill, sends to Rendell
By MARC LEVY, Associated Press Writer
June 10, 2008
HARRISBURG (AP) — The state Senate has broken a yearlong stalemate on a statewide smoking ban, approving a compromise bill Tuesday that would make Pennsylvania the 33rd state to outlaw smoking in many workplaces and public spaces.
The Senate voted 41-9, sending the bill to Gov. Ed Rendell to be signed into law in what supporters hailed as a step forward for public health and protecting people from the dangers of second-hand smoke.
Pa. Legislature passes smoking ban bill, sends to Rendell
Posted in News on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 5:18 pm by Copy editor Mark Schiele
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The state Senate has approved a compromise bill to outlaw smoking in most workplaces and public spaces in Pennsylvania. The Senate voted 41-9, sending the bill to Gov. Ed Rendell to be signed into law.
The bill was stalled for a year before the House approved it last week.
Rendell has advocated a smoking ban as a way to reduce health care costs, and plans to sign the bill.
It would take effect 90 days after being signed into law, banning cigarette, cigar and pipe smoking in restaurants, office buildings, schools, sports arenas, theaters and bus and train stations.
A dozen exemptions would ensure that smoking can continue at some bars and taverns, portions of casino floors, private clubs and elsewhere.
More than 30 other states have approved some type of statewide smoking ban.
Posted in News on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 5:18 pm by Copy editor Mark Schiele
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The state Senate has approved a compromise bill to outlaw smoking in most workplaces and public spaces in Pennsylvania. The Senate voted 41-9, sending the bill to Gov. Ed Rendell to be signed into law.
The bill was stalled for a year before the House approved it last week.
Rendell has advocated a smoking ban as a way to reduce health care costs, and plans to sign the bill.
It would take effect 90 days after being signed into law, banning cigarette, cigar and pipe smoking in restaurants, office buildings, schools, sports arenas, theaters and bus and train stations.
A dozen exemptions would ensure that smoking can continue at some bars and taverns, portions of casino floors, private clubs and elsewhere.
More than 30 other states have approved some type of statewide smoking ban.
Senate snuffs out proposed state smoking ban
By Brad Bumsted
STATE CAPITOL REPORTER
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
STATE CAPITOL REPORTER
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
HARRISBURG — In a surprise move, the state Senate today defeated a proposed compromise agreement to ban smoking in most places in Pennsylvania.
By a 31-19 vote, the Senate defeated a House-Senate Conference Committee report that was the product of a year-long effort by both chambers. Democratic senators led the effort, arguing that Allegheny County and the city of Scranton were being treated unfairly because they could not impose their own ordinances.
“The governor is extremely disappointed,” said Chuck Ardo, Gov. Ed Rendell’s spokesman. “He understands there were those legislators who wanted a stronger ban and believes the onus is now on them to produce a bill that can make it through the Legsilature and reach his desk.”
The committee allowed Philadelphia to use its existing smoking ban, which is stronger than the proposed state law. Allegheny County senators objected because the county was not allowed to also exceed the statewide ban. The county’s ordinance was struck down in court last year.
The next step isn’t clear. The issue could go back to the six-member conference committee, or possibly a new panel of House members and senators.Under Senate rules, the vote could be reconsidered at some point.
Some lawmakers said the ban could be delayed more than a year.
Senators opposed to the measure say they were not trying to defeat a smoking ban but to make it stronger.
An earlier attempt to send the report back to conference committee was defeated. More Republicans joined Democrats on the second, final vote to defeat the conference report.
The bill would ban smoking in most workplaces, restaurants, nightclubs and bars. Smoking also is prohibited in public transportation centers and mass transit vehicles. Bars would be exempted if food sales make up less than 25 percent of revenue. Also exempted: 25 percent of the floor space in casinos.
Brad Bumsted can be reached at bbumsted@tribweb.com or 717-787-1405.
Smoking ban is un-American
May 18, 2008
Tuesday’s editorial on the state smoking ban asked the question, “And why shouldn’t a municipality adopt a tougher ordinance if its residents want one?”
Indeed! And why shouldn’t a municipality be able to adopt a milder ordinance if its residents want one?
And for that matter, why shouldn’t a smoking bar or restaurant owner, with only smoking staff and serving only smoking customers and their willing friends, be allowed to have smoking?
To forbid such a choice is so un-American it stinks a lot worse than any smoke ever would.
Michael J. McFadden
Philadelphia
Philadelphia
Pa. legislators still have no agreement on smoking ban
The Associated Press
April 29, 2008
The Associated Press
April 29, 2008
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – State legislators trying to negotiate a compromise bill banning indoor smoking say they do not have an agreement ready.
As a result, they cancelled a committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, and said they will keep talking.
Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, said the delay should only be for a few days.
The House and Senate have been stuck since July, when the Senate rejected a tougher ban approved by the House.
Bills passed by both chambers last year would ban smoking in most public places and workplaces, including restaurants.
Bills passed by both chambers last year would ban smoking in most public places and workplaces, including restaurants.
But the Senate bill also allows exceptions for private clubs, bars, casinos and others, and stops Philadelphia and other local governments from enforcing a stronger ban.
Pa. smoking ban debate moves along at slow burn
April 19, 2008 1:14 PM
By MARTHA RAFFAELE The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. – It would be an understatement to say that progress toward a statewide indoor smoking ban has moved along at a slow burn.
A dispute between the House and Senate over how strict to make the measure left the debate hanging when state budget negotiations concluded in July. The Senate favored a longer list of establishments where smoking would still be allowed.
A conference committee to resolve those differences wasn’t appointed until December, but leaders hoped it could deliver a final proposal early this year.
Four months later, no compromise has emerged and it isn’t clear if a scheduled April 29 meeting will yield one.
Even if it does, the legislative clock is ticking. Voting sessions after Tuesday’s primary election are scheduled through mid-May, and then attention will turn toward the 2008-09 state budget. After the summer break, the November general election looms.
“There’s a limited amount of time,” said Jen Ebersole, state advocacy director for the American Heart Association. “We don’t want this issue to get bogged down in the whole budget debate.”
Casino and tavern owners have been lobbying for a less restrictive measure that would allow their patrons to continue lighting up, arguing they would otherwise lose money. Ebersole’s group and other health advocacy organizations want the broadest possible ban.
Nevertheless, no one on either side of the debate is ready to declare another stalemate.
The mere discussion of how broadly to apply a smoking ban is a step forward, said Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, who has tried for more than a decade to ban smoking in restaurants and other workplaces.
“We’re light years ahead of where we’ve been,” said Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, chairman of the conference committee. “We’re not talking about whether to ban smoking , we’re talking about what kind of exceptions to have.”
Gov. Ed Rendell helped inject new life into the movement in January 2007, when he called for a smoking ban as part of his sweeping health care reform plan.
Since then, nine other states have passed laws prohibiting smoking in restaurants and bars, with varying levels of exceptions, according to the American Lung Association. In all, 22 states and the District of Columbia have indoor smoking bans.
In New Jersey, Atlantic City is expected to give final approval this week to a smoking ban that would apply to the gambling floors of its 11 casinos, which were exempted from that state’s 2006 indoor smoking ban. Smoking would be allowed in enclosed lounges where no gambling takes place.
But Rep. Mike Gerber, a conference committee member who has joined Greenleaf in pushing for a stricter ban, said it’s unfair to compare Pennsylvania’s progress with that of other states without knowing how long it took each state to pass legislation.
“Comparing our timeline to other states isn’t going to get us anywhere,” said Gerber, D-Montgomery.
Another committee member, Rep. Ron Miller, said the panel will have to endorse a measure that falls short of a complete ban in order to win sufficient legislative support. Although Miller voted for the stricter House bill last year, he more recently suggested that smoking should be allowed in businesses that cater to adults only and undergo air-quality tests.
Miller, R-York, said he believes both chambers feel a sense of urgency.
“I’ve heard from other members of the House to please craft something that can pass both houses,” he said. “I think both chambers are tired of having an issue that is an ongoing thing. If we have to come back and tweak it, fine.”
Gerber said his greatest fear is that the Republican-controlled Senate might use the bill to gain leverage in the state budget negotiations. But Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, said Senate Republicans believe issues such as the smoking ban should be handled separately from the budget talks.
HARRISBURG, Pa. – It would be an understatement to say that progress toward a statewide indoor smoking ban has moved along at a slow burn.
A dispute between the House and Senate over how strict to make the measure left the debate hanging when state budget negotiations concluded in July. The Senate favored a longer list of establishments where smoking would still be allowed.
A conference committee to resolve those differences wasn’t appointed until December, but leaders hoped it could deliver a final proposal early this year.
Four months later, no compromise has emerged and it isn’t clear if a scheduled April 29 meeting will yield one.
Even if it does, the legislative clock is ticking. Voting sessions after Tuesday’s primary election are scheduled through mid-May, and then attention will turn toward the 2008-09 state budget. After the summer break, the November general election looms.
“There’s a limited amount of time,” said Jen Ebersole, state advocacy director for the American Heart Association. “We don’t want this issue to get bogged down in the whole budget debate.”
Casino and tavern owners have been lobbying for a less restrictive measure that would allow their patrons to continue lighting up, arguing they would otherwise lose money. Ebersole’s group and other health advocacy organizations want the broadest possible ban.
Nevertheless, no one on either side of the debate is ready to declare another stalemate.
The mere discussion of how broadly to apply a smoking ban is a step forward, said Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, who has tried for more than a decade to ban smoking in restaurants and other workplaces.
“We’re light years ahead of where we’ve been,” said Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, chairman of the conference committee. “We’re not talking about whether to ban smoking , we’re talking about what kind of exceptions to have.”
Gov. Ed Rendell helped inject new life into the movement in January 2007, when he called for a smoking ban as part of his sweeping health care reform plan.
Since then, nine other states have passed laws prohibiting smoking in restaurants and bars, with varying levels of exceptions, according to the American Lung Association. In all, 22 states and the District of Columbia have indoor smoking bans.
In New Jersey, Atlantic City is expected to give final approval this week to a smoking ban that would apply to the gambling floors of its 11 casinos, which were exempted from that state’s 2006 indoor smoking ban. Smoking would be allowed in enclosed lounges where no gambling takes place.
But Rep. Mike Gerber, a conference committee member who has joined Greenleaf in pushing for a stricter ban, said it’s unfair to compare Pennsylvania’s progress with that of other states without knowing how long it took each state to pass legislation.
“Comparing our timeline to other states isn’t going to get us anywhere,” said Gerber, D-Montgomery.
Another committee member, Rep. Ron Miller, said the panel will have to endorse a measure that falls short of a complete ban in order to win sufficient legislative support. Although Miller voted for the stricter House bill last year, he more recently suggested that smoking should be allowed in businesses that cater to adults only and undergo air-quality tests.
Miller, R-York, said he believes both chambers feel a sense of urgency.
“I’ve heard from other members of the House to please craft something that can pass both houses,” he said. “I think both chambers are tired of having an issue that is an ongoing thing. If we have to come back and tweak it, fine.”
Gerber said his greatest fear is that the Republican-controlled Senate might use the bill to gain leverage in the state budget negotiations. But Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, said Senate Republicans believe issues such as the smoking ban should be handled separately from the budget talks.
We don’t need this over-regulation
The April 2 editorial “Big Choke” once again proposes legislation by opinion rather than evidence.
The conference committee, with the exception of anti-smokers Sen.?
Stewart Greenleaf and Rep. Michael Gerber, is working to find a solution to a perceived risk of secondary smoke. In reality no legislation is needed as the free market has already solved the perceived risk.
Stewart Greenleaf and Rep. Michael Gerber, is working to find a solution to a perceived risk of secondary smoke. In reality no legislation is needed as the free market has already solved the perceived risk.
The editorial suggests Pennsylvania follow other states and countries that have succumbed to over-regulation promoted by special-interest groups that are headed by previously respected organizations. Citing the World Health Organization and the surgeon general makes the editorial sound convincing, but it is not. The World Health Organization’s Multi-Case Study released in 1998 revealed little risk to exposure to secondary smoke. The surgeon general’s statements and press releases were not supported by the report itself. The report was a multi-analysis of studies chosen to support his conclusion while leaving out studies contrary to his beliefs. The surgeon general’s statements, based on his personal crusade, is a better example of a governmental agency astray than the committee criticized.
Science as an enterprise may be objective; scientists as individuals are not. Replacing the scientific method with scientific ideology will damage society more than delaying an unnecessary law. “Public health”?
seems to have abdicated its true purpose, healing the sick, in favor of social engineering.
seems to have abdicated its true purpose, healing the sick, in favor of social engineering.
A smoking ban has nothing to do with air quality. A ban removes a sometime visible presence but ignores unseen toxins in the air that will undoubtedly increase, as ventilation and filtering will be reduced to save costs.
ROBERT GEHRMANN
Pennsylvania State Coordinator
Citizens Freedom Alliance/Smokers Club International
Crafton
Pennsylvania State Coordinator
Citizens Freedom Alliance/Smokers Club International
Crafton
Indoor smoking ban plan softened
Bars and restaurants might get loophole
April 02, 2008
BY CHARLES THOMPSONOf The Patriot-News
BY CHARLES THOMPSONOf The Patriot-News
Pennsylvania might not get a comprehensive ban on indoor smoking in public places after all.
Casinos, bars, restaurants and private clubs that want to cater to smoking customers would find an escape hatch in a plan being developed by lawmakers who are advocates for smokers’ rights. Those businesses could allow customers to smoke if they don’t serve children and if they submit to air-quality tests.
Essentially, lawmakers would allow those businesses to decide if they want to go smoke-free.
That’s the basis of an emerging plan being debated by a six-member panel of lawmakers. Four of the members back the proposal. The committee is charged with reconciling competing bills that have been approved by the state House and Senate.
Opponents who have been pushing for a tougher law on smoking in the workplace attacked the idea. They said it would not provide protection for workers.
“This may sound good,” said Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery County, a longtime champion of legislation to bar smoking in public places. “But the experts have told us that … there is no risk-free level of exposure to second-hand smoke. Ever.”
The concept is to ban smoking at publicly owned facilities and most other workplaces and grant exceptions only to those private clubs, casinos, bars and restaurants that choose to be smoking establishments while banning customers under 18 and submitting to air tests.
“This is still the United States of America, with a capital USA, and I do believe that everyone has rights,” said state Rep. Bob Belfanti, D-Northumberland County, a leading proponent of smokers’ rights and a member of the panel.
Businesses would have to meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards for several cancer-causing compounds.
The legislative panel took no formal action Tuesday, in part because two members, Belfanti and state Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus, said they needed more time to refine the air-testing requirements and other parts of the proposal.
Miller said the emerging plan is stronger than a Senate bill that would allow casinos, bars and restaurants to have smoking areas. The House bill would bar smoking in those businesses.
Under the new plan, if a business failed its six-month air test, its smoking waiver would be suspended.
“They may not like it,” Miller said, referring to the businesses that are fighting for exceptions, “but at least we’re going to protect some health.”
Health advocacy groups, who are striving to protect workers from secondhand smoke in the workplace, said they were growing frustrated.
“We keep going over the same issues time and time again,” said Deborah Brown, the American Lung Association’s vice president of advocacy for Mid-Atlantic states. “It’s time to act. It’s time to save lives.”
Bill Godshall, exective director of SmokeFree Pennsylvania, doubted the effectiveness of using OSHA standards for levels of nicotine, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and particulate matter. Those standards are designed for industrial applications, not cigarette smoke, he said.
“There’s a whole host of other products in that tobacco smoke that is just horrendously dangerous, and is not regulated,” said Dave Roccasecca, OSHA’s assistant director for the Harrisbrug area. “That’s why the surgeon general has put that warning on the things [cigarettes].”
Godshall is urging this compromise: Let the state law have exceptions, but give county and municipal officials the power to pass more stringent indoor-smoking laws.
Miller emphasized that his plan was only in the draft stage and that testing and other requirements could be bolstered.
Some of the anti-smoking groups said they might call for the final bill’s defeat if they do not think it is strong enough.
The conference committee is to reconvene April 29. Miller’s amendment and others are expected to be put up for votes.
April 01, 2008
by CHARLES THOMPSON, Of The Patriot-News
by CHARLES THOMPSON, Of The Patriot-News
Members of a Senate-House conference committee adjourned with no action today on a proposed indoor smoking ban after several members who want a looser bill said they need more time to develop their proposal.
The committee will reconvene on April 29, presumably to start considering final language. The conference committee’s agreed-to language would still face a final vote in both the House and Senate.
Torching of office puzzles state Rep. Belfanti
March 24, 2008
BY JOHN BEAUGEFor The Patriot-News
MOUNT CARMEL – A state lawmaker says it is beyond him why his district office was the target of an arsonist.
BY JOHN BEAUGEFor The Patriot-News
MOUNT CARMEL – A state lawmaker says it is beyond him why his district office was the target of an arsonist.
“It would seem outrageous for someone to burn my office down over a vote,” Rep. Robert E. Belfanti Jr. said Sunday about the early morning fire that caused an estimated $150,000 damage to the two-story building at 15 West Ave. Belfanti’s district office is on the first floor.
A state police fire investigator determined there were four fires set in Belfanti’s Northumberland County office. Tenants of the second-floor apartment were not home when Mount Carmel police on patrol saw smoke about 1 a.m.
A window pane in the front door had been broken and intruders reached inside to unlock the deadbolt, Belfanti said. The Democratic legislator, whose district covers parts of Columbia, Northumberland and Montour counties, was first elected in 1980.
Firefighters had the blaze under control within 15 minutes of their arrival, Fire Chief Jack Williams Jr. said.
Belfanti is unaware of any threats, but said police plan to question his staff to determine if they received any threats they did not pass on to him, he said. Belfanti has no opponent in the primary or general election.
The most fire damage was in what Belfanti described as the working area for himself and his four-person staff. The waiting and conference rooms had less damage, he said.
There was a little heat and smoke damage to the second floor of the building, which Williams said is owned by John Martin Quinn of Kulpmont.
Fires that were started under a pamphlet rack, a propane heater and under a fax/copy machine in the secretary’s office burned themselves out, Belfanti said he was told. The fire that spread was set in the rear of his office, he said.
Belfanti has gotten publicity in recent weeks because of his position on the smoking ban legislation in the General Assembly. He believes there should be some exceptions for private organizations and neighborhood taverns.
He said he doubted the fire was set because of his smoking stance, saying that calls to his office are running 60-40 in favor of his position.
Smoking ban proponents turn up the heat on Mellow
Pocono Record – Stroudsburg,PA,USA
By David Pierce State Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, D-22, is the focus of a high-profile campaign to smoke out his support for a total smoking ban …
Pocono Record – Stroudsburg,PA,USA
By David Pierce State Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, D-22, is the focus of a high-profile campaign to smoke out his support for a total smoking ban …
Statewide smoking ban nears
Pittsburgh Post Gazette – Pittsburgh,PA,USA
Senate Democratic leader Bob Mellow of Scranton, a member of the House-Senate conference committee that is writing the smoking ban, agreed it’s time for …
Pittsburgh Post Gazette – Pittsburgh,PA,USA
Senate Democratic leader Bob Mellow of Scranton, a member of the House-Senate conference committee that is writing the smoking ban, agreed it’s time for …
Smoking ban might be ready by summer
The Patriot-News – PennLive.com – Harrisburg,PA,USA
BY CHARLES THOMPSON The push to ban smoking from most indoor public places in Pennsylvania is about to return to center stage. Some type of ban is coming …
The Patriot-News – PennLive.com – Harrisburg,PA,USA
BY CHARLES THOMPSON The push to ban smoking from most indoor public places in Pennsylvania is about to return to center stage. Some type of ban is coming …
Pa. smoking ban: Not if, but how
Feb. 25, 2008
By Amy Worden
By Amy Worden
HARRISBURG – One is a Vietnam veteran from north-central Pennsylvania, a lifelong smoker fighting for the rights of fellow vets to light up in VFW halls.
The other is a young Philadelphia-area lawyer, who has seen close-up the health risks that can come with decades of smoking.
In a nutshell, those two stories are why there is still no state smoking ban.
The differences between the two Democratic lawmakers, Rep. Bob Belfanti of Columbia County and Rep. Mike Gerber of Montgomery County, highlight the tobacco divide that runs along generational and often geographical lines in Pennsylvania. It separates those seeking a complete ban on smoking in public places and those who would like to see exceptions for private clubs, taverns and casinos.
And now those two legislators are key members of a committee trying to forge a compromise.
Gerber, in his second term, grew up in a smoking household. Now he believes his father, a former chain smoker who has heart disease, is suffering the medical consequences. His father is back in the hospital after having survived multiple heart attacks, and his mother has breast cancer.
“A smoking ban is imperative,” said Gerber, 35, who eschews cigarettes but concedes he enjoys a cigar every now and again. “It’s a critically important public health issue because exposure to secondhand smoke can cause death”
and an array of diseases.
and an array of diseases.
His bill restricting smoking in all public places except cigar bars passed the state House last July. A far less restrictive ban, allowing exceptions for a variety of businesses including taverns, casinos and some restaurants, was approved by the Senate. Gerber and Belfanti, along with four other legislators, are part of a conference committee tasked with resolving the stalemate and drafting a compromise bill.
Belfanti, a 59-year-old former Marine who last year lit up on the House floor in defiance of a new smoking ban in the Capitol, is intent on setting aside some places as “smoker friendly.”
Belfanti, who represents many elderly, retired, blue-collar workers, says he’s not opposed to some type of ban, but he wants veterans organizations, members of other fraternal groups, and patrons of corner taverns – along with the tavern owners who depend on them – to have the freedom to light up in those places.
“Face it, cigarettes are part of the military,” Belfanti said. “Those guys and girls who come home, maybe without an arm or a leg, want to go to the VFW and have a cigarette.”
House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D., Greene) said he named Belfanti and Gerber to the committee because of their strongly held views about the subject and because they represented both ends of the spectrum.
“They are paradigmatic opposites,” DeWeese said. “When I think of Bob Belfanti, I think of a 19-year-old Marine on the side of a CH-46 helicopter . . . returning to Mount Carmel to enjoy a cigarette 45 years later.”
DeWeese describes Gerber as a “handsome and wholesome Ivy Leaguer and football player, carrying the standard for a new generation of prudent young people who realize there are carcinogens in secondhand smoke.”
With neighboring New York, New Jersey and Maryland enacting smoking bans in recent years, a Pennsylvania ban became a priority for Gov. Rendell, who included it as part of his slate of health- care-reform proposals last year.
Thousands of establishments will be affected by the ban, among them many of the 12,600 restaurants, bars and hotels with liquor licenses and a number of the 3,600 private clubs with liquor licenses.
Philadelphia enacted its own ban, but whether it would be replaced by any new state law is unknown. Among the issues not yet resolved is whether the state law will supersede local smoking bans.
Lobbying on the issue by prosmoking interests, including the tobacco industry, casinos and tavern operators, has been fierce over the last year.
Cigarette maker Philip Morris spent $275,000 seeking to influence lawmakers in 2007. The Breathe Free Coalition (American Lung Association, American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society) staked out a spot in the Capitol this year where they set up a large poster reminding passersby that six people die each day in Pennsylvania from the effects of secondhand smoke.
After days of long, hotly charged debate last summer, the separate bills passed the House and the Senate, but the two chambers were unable to resolve their differences over the scope of the exceptions. The six-member conference committee was charged with coming up with a bill that will pass both chambers.
So the conference committee will take the unusual step of holding two hearings next month before introducing legislation by April, said committee chairman Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, (R., Montgomery)
“There is a provision in the Pennsylvania constitution that says that people are entitled to clean air,” said Greenleaf, a nonsmoker who launched a lonely crusade for a smoking ban 14 years ago. “You wouldn’t allow people to blow asbestos in other people’s faces.”
Committee member Rep. Ronald Miller (R., York) thinks one answer is to require signs outside establishments that allow smoking.
“They would have to declare themselves ‘adult only,’ ” said Miller, a nonsmoker who nevertheless believes in free choice. “Then let the free market decide if they remain a smoking establishment.”
Miller says he’s willing to compromise in order to get legislation to the governor’s desk.
“I don’t want to push what I think, but what will get a majority of votes in the House and Senate,” he said.
Four of the six conferees supported exceptions in last year’s bills, so the likelihood of a total ban emerging from the committee is remote.
“I’m for moderation,” said Belfanti, who is trying to quit and is down to a pack-and-a-half a day from 21/2 packs a day. “I think we should give people options, but allow smokers a venue somewhere.”
Majority leader DeWeese envisions legislation that would allow smoking in some fraternal clubs, small bars and areas in casinos moving through the chamber that he controls.
“This is not rocket science,” DeWeese said. “We need an overall ban with a couple of exceptions.”
Smoking ban on agenda
phillyBurbs.com – Philadelphia,PA,USA
Lutz wants the smoking ban to cover everyone and everywhere in borough hall, including DiGuiseppe — his known political rival — and the designated smoking …
Smoking ban belongs on ballot
GoErie.com – Erie,PA,USA
It seems Pennsylvania legislators don’t want to pass a smoking ban. Maybe they are worried too many people would quit smoking and lower the taxes collected …
phillyBurbs.com – Philadelphia,PA,USA
Lutz wants the smoking ban to cover everyone and everywhere in borough hall, including DiGuiseppe — his known political rival — and the designated smoking …
Smoking ban belongs on ballot
GoErie.com – Erie,PA,USA
It seems Pennsylvania legislators don’t want to pass a smoking ban. Maybe they are worried too many people would quit smoking and lower the taxes collected …
Anti-smoking zealots are free to move to France
January 21, 2008
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
France went smoke-free (“France Stubs Out Smoking,” Jan. 3); they have a history of capitulation to fascism.
Government-imposed smoking bans breach the freedoms on which this country was founded. Siding with special-interest groups that have spun data by twisting science and manipulating the English language is not government’s job. As a republic, government exists to secure and protect pre-existing rights. Democracy is tyranny of the majority and the reason our Founding Fathers secured a republic, not a democracy. Freedom is the absence of government coercion.
In a free society, all people have individual freedoms and that includes making choices of their own. The free market should allow private property to remain private and not claim it to be “public places.”
If the government applied critical thinking rather than emotional reaction to this issue, it would be mute.
Science is composed of evidence, not opinion of tainted “experts.” A little investigation would quickly reveal no merit to use the force of law to control the choices of individuals and private businesses.
Freedom of religion should include no laws imposing the dogma of anti-smoker zealots onto free people and business. As with any religion, they are free to believe as they wish.
ROBERT GEHRMANN
Pennsylvania State Coordinator
Citizens Freedom Alliance/Smokers Club International
Crafton
Pennsylvania State Coordinator
Citizens Freedom Alliance/Smokers Club International
Crafton
Smoking Ban in Restaurants and Bars
Camille Williams Email: cwilliams@wetmtv.com
12/28/07
Smoking Ban
Pennsylvania State House Representative Matt Baker says he’s very optimistic a statewide indoor smoking ban will be approved in about a month or two.
Differences over exceptions have kept the bill from getting approved by the State Legislature.
It would ban smoking in restaurants and bars.
Baker says in addition to the lives lost, smoking is very costly to not only smokers but non smokers who inhale second hand smoke.
“The medical costs are five billion dollars a year nationally to non smokers inhalling smoke and there’s another four and a half billion dollars in lost wages nationally inhaling casual second hand smoke.”-said Representative Matt Baker
Baker says polls have shown about 75% the people in his Northern Tier District support a very restrictive indoor smoking ban for public buildings.
Smoking bans breach freedoms
December 19, 2007
Government imposed smoking bans breach the freedoms on which this country was founded. Siding with special interest groups that have spun data by twisting science and manipulating the English language is not government’s job. As a Republic, government exists to secure and protect pre-existing rights. Democracy is tyranny of the majority and the reason our founding fathers secured a Republic, not a democracy. Freedom is the absence of government coercion.
In a free society, all people have individual freedoms and that includes making choices of their own. The free market should allow private property to remain private and not claim it to be “public places.”
If the government applied critical thinking rather than emotional reaction to this issue, it would be mute.
Science is composed of evidence, not opinion of tainted “experts.” A little investigation will quickly reveal no merit, to use the force of law, to control the choices of individuals and private businesses.
Freedom of religion should include no laws imposing the dogma of anti smoker zealots onto free people and business. As with any religion, they are free to believe as they wish.
Belfanti named conferee on smoking law
12/11/2007
BY ROBERT SWIFT, HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF
HARRISBURG — Rep. Robert Belfanti, D-Northumberland, was appointed Monday as one of three House conferees on a joint committee to find a compromise on a statewide smoking ban bill.
BY ROBERT SWIFT, HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF
HARRISBURG — Rep. Robert Belfanti, D-Northumberland, was appointed Monday as one of three House conferees on a joint committee to find a compromise on a statewide smoking ban bill.
Mr. Belfanti is a vocal supporter of smokers’ rights.
House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, R-Philadelphia, also named Reps. Michael Gerber, D-Montgomery, and Ron Miller, R-York, to the conference committee.
On the Senate side, Sens. Robert Mellow, D-Peckville, Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, and Charles McIlhinney, R-Bucks, are the conferees.
The conferees will try to craft a bill that reconciles differences between versions of smoking ban bills that passed each chamber earlier this year. The bills treat exemptions from a smoking ban differently.
At least four members must vote yes for a bill to clear the committee. That majority must be composed of two members of each chamber.
After the conference committee acts, the bill goes to lawmakers on a yes/no vote.
Mr. O’Brien said there is no timetable for the committee to complete its work, but he hopes a vote can be taken in early 2008.
December 7, 2007
One special-interest group spokesman, Kevin Joyce of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association, has found that dancing with wolves can be dangerous.
He supported County Council’s smoking ban last year and continues to lobby for a statewide smoking ban. He claims a “level playing field” is needed.
In other words, he wants to have the state government impose his beliefs with the force of law onto his competitors.
Mr. Joyce was also very vocal in opposing the 10 percent poured-drink tax. The wolves he danced with on the anti-smoking regulation bit him on this one.
Keep government and opinions out of regulating private property before a “bait-and-switch tax” will be needed to bail out more government programs.
First they came for the smokers, then the drinkers, and eventually for each of us. To quote Bertrand de Jouvenel: “A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.”
First they came for the smokers, then the drinkers, and eventually for each of us. To quote Bertrand de Jouvenel: “A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.”
Robert Gehrmann
Crafton
The writer is state coordinator of Citizens Freedom Alliance/Smokers Club International (smokersclub.com), which is opposed to government intrusion into private property rights.
Crafton
The writer is state coordinator of Citizens Freedom Alliance/Smokers Club International (smokersclub.com), which is opposed to government intrusion into private property rights.
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August 13, 2007 Business Matters PA: WFMZ-Ch.69 Robert Gehrmann, Pennsylvania State Coordinator of The Smoker’s Club, Inc. View Promo – Part 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 |
Smoking-ban bills flame out
December 05, 2007
BY CHARLES THOMPSON
Of The Patriot-News
Raela Stabile works the day shift at Molly Brannigans in Harrisburg for one reason: she despises cigarette smoke.
“It’s not half as much smoke [as the night], so I can handle it,” the nonsmoker said in the pub’s smoking section. “I hate cigarette smoke.”
She looks forward to the day when a proposed indoor smoking ban becomes the law of the land, and hopes it will include bars and restaurants.
But top legislative leaders have all but conceded this week that if Pennsylvania is to join the ranks of states with comprehensive indoor smoking bans, it won’t be in 2007, as lawmakers had predicted.
“It’s probably something that’s going to be worked on as we continue into next year,” Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, said Tuesday.
Opponents of a comprehensive ban — led by the tobacco, casino and tavern lobbies — appear to have successfully run out the clock on getting any bill to Gov. Ed Rendell’s desk this year. Rendell left little doubt Tuesday that he considers that a failure.
“I have ceased to quantify my frustration level, because if I did so on a daily basis, it’d be the only thing I do,” Rendell said about inaction on the smoking ban, one of his top health care priorities. “I have decided to just say I am continually frustrated.”
An independent poll by Quinnipiac University last month showed that 62 percent of respondents favored a ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and public buildings. The poll of 1,019 respondents had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
The House and Senate passed competing versions of a smoking ban last summer.
The House bill would ban all smoking in Pennsylvania’s casinos, restaurants and taverns but allow exceptions for private clubs such as American Legion halls or Moose lodges and tobacco-related businesses.
The Senate bill would allow slot-machine parlors to maintain smoking areas, which operators of casinos near the state’s borders say is essential for competitive reasons. It would exempt some smaller bars and restaurants as well as the private clubs.
Another unresolved issue is whether municipalities will be permitted to adopt even more stringent local smoking ordinances. The House bill allows that; the Senate plan does not.
The two chambers must hammer out a compromise version of a bill to present to the governor’s desk.
Until this week, House and Senate leaders hadn’t even named appointees to a conference committee to resolve those differences.
That will change today, when Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, names three senators to the smoking ban panel. State House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, R-Philadelphia, will follow suit in the “near future,” his spokesman said Tuesday.
This fall’s inaction has incensed anti-smoking advocates such as Bill Godshall, executive director of SmokeFree Pennsylvania.
“It’s very frustrating, because I think the legislative leadership is just totally out of touch with the public. … The caucus have been dragging their feet and the only beneficiaries have been the cigarette companies.”
Other lobbyists on the issue, commenting only on condition that they not be identified, speculated that some of the leaders are worried about the effect a newly enacted ban could have at the polls in 2008. Some speculate that angry smokers would take it out on incumbents.
In addition, the House Democrat and Republican leaders, Reps. H. William DeWeese, D-Greene, and Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, voted against the House bill in July.
Scarnati conceded Tuesday that the bill has languished this fall. But he contended that it has more to do with the press of other business and shifting Rendell administration priorities than anything else.
“We’ve been consumed with things that obviously have been on the governor’s hit list, like energy and health care,” said Scarnati, who voted for the Senate ban bill this summer.
Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery County, who sponsored his first indoor smoking ban bill in 1996, finds room for optimism. With conferees named, he suspects the bill will gain momentum.
“It’s going to happen,” Greenleaf said. “You have to be patient with this. .. If it’s a few weeks or a couple of months, this is a short time as far as I’m concerned.”
CHARLES THOMPSON: 705-5724 or cthompson@patriot-news.com
SMOKING POLL
62% support a ban on smoking in restaurants and public places 32% oppose it 5% don’t know Source: Quinnipiac University
December 05, 2007
BY CHARLES THOMPSON
Of The Patriot-News
Raela Stabile works the day shift at Molly Brannigans in Harrisburg for one reason: she despises cigarette smoke.
“It’s not half as much smoke [as the night], so I can handle it,” the nonsmoker said in the pub’s smoking section. “I hate cigarette smoke.”
She looks forward to the day when a proposed indoor smoking ban becomes the law of the land, and hopes it will include bars and restaurants.
But top legislative leaders have all but conceded this week that if Pennsylvania is to join the ranks of states with comprehensive indoor smoking bans, it won’t be in 2007, as lawmakers had predicted.
“It’s probably something that’s going to be worked on as we continue into next year,” Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, said Tuesday.
Opponents of a comprehensive ban — led by the tobacco, casino and tavern lobbies — appear to have successfully run out the clock on getting any bill to Gov. Ed Rendell’s desk this year. Rendell left little doubt Tuesday that he considers that a failure.
“I have ceased to quantify my frustration level, because if I did so on a daily basis, it’d be the only thing I do,” Rendell said about inaction on the smoking ban, one of his top health care priorities. “I have decided to just say I am continually frustrated.”
An independent poll by Quinnipiac University last month showed that 62 percent of respondents favored a ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and public buildings. The poll of 1,019 respondents had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
The House and Senate passed competing versions of a smoking ban last summer.
The House bill would ban all smoking in Pennsylvania’s casinos, restaurants and taverns but allow exceptions for private clubs such as American Legion halls or Moose lodges and tobacco-related businesses.
The Senate bill would allow slot-machine parlors to maintain smoking areas, which operators of casinos near the state’s borders say is essential for competitive reasons. It would exempt some smaller bars and restaurants as well as the private clubs.
Another unresolved issue is whether municipalities will be permitted to adopt even more stringent local smoking ordinances. The House bill allows that; the Senate plan does not.
The two chambers must hammer out a compromise version of a bill to present to the governor’s desk.
Until this week, House and Senate leaders hadn’t even named appointees to a conference committee to resolve those differences.
That will change today, when Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, names three senators to the smoking ban panel. State House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, R-Philadelphia, will follow suit in the “near future,” his spokesman said Tuesday.
This fall’s inaction has incensed anti-smoking advocates such as Bill Godshall, executive director of SmokeFree Pennsylvania.
“It’s very frustrating, because I think the legislative leadership is just totally out of touch with the public. … The caucus have been dragging their feet and the only beneficiaries have been the cigarette companies.”
Other lobbyists on the issue, commenting only on condition that they not be identified, speculated that some of the leaders are worried about the effect a newly enacted ban could have at the polls in 2008. Some speculate that angry smokers would take it out on incumbents.
In addition, the House Democrat and Republican leaders, Reps. H. William DeWeese, D-Greene, and Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, voted against the House bill in July.
Scarnati conceded Tuesday that the bill has languished this fall. But he contended that it has more to do with the press of other business and shifting Rendell administration priorities than anything else.
“We’ve been consumed with things that obviously have been on the governor’s hit list, like energy and health care,” said Scarnati, who voted for the Senate ban bill this summer.
Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery County, who sponsored his first indoor smoking ban bill in 1996, finds room for optimism. With conferees named, he suspects the bill will gain momentum.
“It’s going to happen,” Greenleaf said. “You have to be patient with this. .. If it’s a few weeks or a couple of months, this is a short time as far as I’m concerned.”
CHARLES THOMPSON: 705-5724 or cthompson@patriot-news.com
SMOKING POLL
62% support a ban on smoking in restaurants and public places 32% oppose it 5% don’t know Source: Quinnipiac University
Fight for Your Right to P?t?
10/9/07
At Philadelphia’s Vintage restaurant last week the special was two delicately pan-seared pieces of foie gras perched atop toasted brioche with a berry coulis, garnished with fresh raspberries and a side of rebellion.
Read More
Cameraderie of Smoking
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By Ashley Gurbal
09/23/07
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Social stigma, workplace bans seal friendships as smokers congregate to light up
For a group that’s been banned from offices, malls, movie theaters and air planes — and possibly all public places in Pennsylvania, if the state legislature can agree on a proposed ban — smokers seem to stick together.
Smokers can be found huddled together in the rain or banished to the back porch at parties, striking up conversations as easily as matches — and the bans that removed them in the first place may be behind the camaraderie of the habit.
Smokers are a ‘‘fairly large subculture,’’ said Dr. John Kramer, a member of the sociology faculty at Penn State University, University Park sociology faculty.
‘‘But there are limited locations where you can smoke, and smaller and smaller arenas (for smoking),’’ said Kramer, who teaches sociology of deviants. ‘‘It builds a community as outcasts, with their mutual dissidence from society. We’re passing laws against it — the message is clear. A lot of people don’t want them smoking.’’
Tony Raia of Altoona sees it that way.
‘‘They’ve put us in a corner to smoke,’’ said Raia, 61, as he shopped for cigarettes at Nic’s Tobacco Outlet on Pleasant Valley Boule-vard in Altoona. ‘‘It’s like any other team … it’s us against the world. They (the anti-smoking movement) made it a war.’’
The camaraderie of smoking is ‘‘a more general phenomenon — a societal shift from smoking being socially acceptable to a minority status, to socially unacceptable,’’ said Dr. Brad Hastings, chairman of the social sciences department at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson.
‘‘As human beings, we form majorities and minorities,’’ Hastings said. ‘‘You’re either a smoker or a nonsmoker. You can’t be someone in between. … It’s true for anybody — if I see a bumper sticker, a political sticker I agree with, I feel akin with that person even if I don’t know them. It’s in and out groups — people choose and immediately start forming bonds.’’
Smokers feel ‘‘ostracized’’ by the bans, said Michael J. McFadden, mid-Atlantic regional director of The Smoker’s Club Inc., a pro-smoking organization based in Center Conway, N.H.
‘‘Whenever you have a group of people that feels it has been singled out for unjust persecution you’re going to find that the members of that group will bond to each other,’’ McFadden said.
Others say the habit is one that simply lends itself to fraternizing. For Debbie Free of Phoenixville, smoking is ‘‘sort of a social thing.’’
‘‘It’s a break,’’ said Free, who declined to give her age as she bought a pack of cigarettes at Smoker’s Express on Seventh Avenue in Altoona. ‘‘You’re out there having a cigarette … it’s something to talk about.’’
And it’s a habit that can shape a life.
‘‘Hobbies bring people together, like Trekkies, but smoking is more than a hobby,’’ Hastings said. ‘‘Hobbies don’t have be central to your identity, don’t have to be something you do every day. Smoking is central to the identity.’’
As a cashier at Nic’s Tobacco Outlet and a smoker herself, Deanna Barefoot of Altoona said she regularly talks about the habit with her customers.
‘‘We talk about different brands, the kinds of cigarettes we like,’’ said Barefoot, 23. ‘‘And where we like to smoke. I smoke more at the bars. It goes hand in hand.’’
Smokers do tend to have common personalities, Hastings said — many are known as ‘‘sensation seekers,’’ or those who tend to seek stimulation from the environment.
‘‘There are plenty of nonsmokers who are sensation seekers,’’ he said. ‘‘They might ride rollercoasters or skydive. Smoking is something that’s readily available. But (personality type) is clearly secondary to social patterns. There are a lot of reasons people smoke, and sensation seeking is low on the list.’’
The health risks of the habit — emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease, among others — aren’t news to anyone, least of all smokers. Some may seek out other smokers as a comfort mechanism, Kramer said.
‘‘When we’re doing things we know aren’t healthy, we neutralize the message somewhat to be comfortable with what we’re doing,’’ he said. ‘‘If you look at the deviance of gangs, (smokers) are individuals in similar situations with similar negative feedback. It builds camaraderie.’’
Robin Brandt of Altoona said she likes smoking with other people — if for no reason other than that there are others smoking.
‘‘I think a lot of it is knowing it’s a bad, rotten, stupid habit, and you’re glad someone else is doing it,’’ said Brandt, 49, who was smoking outside the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg.
Brandt began smoking when she was 14 — most of her immediate family smoked.
‘‘I had two older brothers, and I’m four years younger. They looked cool doing it,’’ she said.
Mirror Staff Writer Ashley Gurbal is at 946-7435.
Smoking raises worries in most in Pa. poll
September 6, 2007
“People have pretty much made up their minds about it,” said G. Terry Madonna, the poll’s director at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster. More than half “have some problem with the state government regulating behavior.”
September 6, 2007
“People have pretty much made up their minds about it,” said G. Terry Madonna, the poll’s director at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster. More than half “have some problem with the state government regulating behavior.”
Smoking ban for Pa. restaurants? No, thank you
Fewer than half of people polled think the state should ban smoking in restaurants and bars.
Fewer than half of people polled think the state should ban smoking in restaurants and bars.
By TOM MURSE, Staff
Lancaster New Era
Sep 06, 2007
Lancaster New Era
Sep 06, 2007
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA – Nine in 10 Pennsylvanians agree: Second-hand smoke is harmful.
But when it comes to the idea of a statewide ban, most folks think the government should just butt out.
That finding is contained in a wide-ranging statewide poll out of Franklin & Marshall College today.
“Pennsylvania has a contrarian streak on government intervention,” said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Keystone Poll and head of F&M;’s Center for Politics and Public Affairs.
“I’m not saying we’re the Wild West here or anything. It’s just that the response surprised me as much as any,” he added.
The poll, which largely focused on presidential and statewide politics, asked the smoking question of 585 adult residents of the state. The margin of error is 4.1 percentage points.
While 90 percent said they believe second-hand smoke is either very or somewhat harmful, fewer than half — 46 percent — think the state should ban smoking in restaurants and bars. The Legislature is set to consider such a ban this fall.
Most of those surveyed, 53 percent, think the decision on whether to allow smoking in such places is best left to individual business owners.
The results did not surprise Amy Christie, who is executive director of the Pennsylvania Tavern Association, which opposes the proposed ban.
“The argument has never been that second-hand smoke is healthy,” she said. “The argument has been that adults should be able to chose to enter establishments that provide smoking areas for their clientele or not.
“And as long as state government is collecting over $1.4 billion in tax revenue a year from tobacco, I feel like they should not be able to put a mandate on adult establishments,” Christie said.
“We’re not talking McDonald’s and Hoss’s. We’re talking about liquor-license establishments, small businesses that families have built up over decades.”
Ray Hottenstein, owner of The Olde Greenfield Inn and former president of Pennsylvania Restaurant Association, doesn’t see it that way. He has been a staunch supporter of a statewide smoking ban and has prohibited lighting up in his East Lampeter Township establishment.
“I don’t like government interfering with my business either,” he said. “In this case it is about something more important, and that is the health of our employees.
“This is not about banning smoking in bars and restaurants. This is a public
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